LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



Jl^ap. (Sup^rtgi^ f u.. 

Shelf J-K-^-^ ^ 
- JM5 




OOSrSTITUTIOB" 



OP 



THE UNITED STATES, 



BKIEP COMMENTS; 



ANB 



INCIDENTAL COMMENTS ON THE CONSTITUTIONS 
OF ENGLAND AND FRANCE. 



J.^T.^'CHAMPLIN, D.D., LL.D., 



/ Late President of Colby University. 



*' The American Constitution is the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given 
time by the brain and purpose of man." — William E. Gladbtonb. 



J^o LhA.fkJ] 

BOSTON: ''^J^ ;,r , 

PUBLISHED BY JOHN ili^YN, 

30 Frakklin Street. 
1880. 



TT 



Copyright, 1879, 
By J. T. CHAMPLIN. 



C45 



PREFATORY NOTE. 



This brief treatise on the Constitution is the result 
of studies begun many years ago, and renewed at my 
leisure from time to time since. It has seemed to me 
that the relations between the national and state gov- 
ernments should be more clearly pointed out, and their 
respective spheres and duties more fully explained, than 
has been wont to be done in such treatises. I have 
hoped also, by greater directness, and the omission of 
unnecessary details, to set forth the essential doctrines 
of the Constitution, with not less distinctness, in some- 
what less space than that usually devoted to them in 
manuals, and thus prepare a book on the subject that 
may be compassed in the necessarily short time which 
must be devoted to the study in a general course of 
education. Though brief, the treatise aims to be, and 
indeed claims to be, clear, discriminating, and compre- 
hensive in its teachings. 

Portland, 1879. 

iii 



rNTRODUCTIOK 



The present government of the United States is the 
successor of two preceding governments which had con- 
trolled the States for some fifteen years, — the former, 
called the Eevolutionary Government, for seven years ; 
and the latter, known as the Government of the Con- 
federation, for eight years. The Constitutional Gov- 
ernment, under which we now live, went into operation 
in the city of New York, March 4, 1789, under the 
Constitution, which had been formed about two years 
before by a convention of delegates assembled in the 
State House at Philadelphia, and had now been ratified 
by the required number of the thirteen States. 

The Government of the Confederation went into 
operation March 1, 1781, — about six months before 
the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, which 
virtually closed the Revolution. The Articles of Con- 
federation left each State independent, and conceded 
little more than advisory powers in certain national 
matters to the general gov-ernnuent, which was con- 

V 



vi Introduction. 

ducted by a Continental Congress, which sat continu- 
ously, either as a body or by a committee, in Independ- 
ence Hall at Philadelj)hia, till January, 1785, when it 
removed to New York, and remained there four years, 
till the adoption of the present Constitution. There 
was no separate executive or judicial department pro- 
vided for by the Articles ; but Congress had the 
initiative in these departments, as far as they were 
surrendered at all by the States, as well as in legisla- 
tion, — and little but the initiative, as it could carr}^ 
through nothing of importance, whether in peace or in 
war, without the consent and co-operation of two-thirds 
of the States. It could recommend measures to the 
States, but of itself could execute nothing. It was a 
mere governmental league between independent States, 
the exertion of whose powers, at every important point, 
was to depend upon the consent of a two-thirds ma- 
jority of the whole number. The eight j^ears of its 
existence showed its utter inadequacy for the purposes 
of a general government, and prepared the public 
mind for accepting the more comprehensive and trul}" 
national government formed by the Constitution, which 
immediately followed it. 

The Revolutionary Government, also, which carried 
through the seven-years' contest with the power of 
Great Britain, was conducted by a Continental Con- 
gress sitting in Independence Hall at Philadelphia, 



Introduction, vii 

whence it issued, in 1776, the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. This Congress first assembled in March, 
1774, and conducted the general military operations 
of the united colonies by making requisitions upon 
them for men and means, leaving them to take care 
of their own local afiairs. The body was composed of 
delegates from the thirteen British colonies, which, 
from the pressm'e of a common danger and a common 
aspiration for liberty, acted together in the contest, 
and yielded to the Congress a voluntary, though not 
always a very energetic and prompt, obedience. Pre- 
vious to this common struggle, the colonies — most 
of which had been in existence more than a hundred 
years — were politically distinct, and had never been 
able to form with each other any but the slightest 
and most temporary alliances : indeed, they were not 
allowed to do so by the mother-country. The Revolu- 
tion was the first great step towards consolidating the 
States into a nation. 

The system of government in the United States is 
one of grades, from the government of towns, counties, 
and States, to the government of the nation. The 
sum of governmental powers is distributed among 
these several divisions, each of them being allowed the 
share best fitted to its wants and most convenient for 
use. Each has a measure of legislative, executive, 
and judicial power, which it exercises within its sphere ; 



viii Introduction, 

the higher embracing not only the wider field, but the 
more general and comprehensive governmental duties. 
"While the towns govern their inhabitants in matters 
requmng immediate attention and of a local nature, 
the counties administer the higher and more compre- 
hensive functions of government in the towns included 
in them. And as the States include, and govern in 
their more general interests, the towns and counties, 
so the United-States' government embraces and con- 
trols the States in their higher governmental relations, 
forming them into a harmonious Union, and making 
of them a common country. 

The government of the Union is confessedly a lim- 
ited government. It has merely those general public 
powers essential to a national government which are 
specified in the Constitution, and were surrendered 
to it by the people of the States in order to form 
under it a federal union. It does not direct the whole 
machinery of government through the entire mass of 
the people, as the States, retaining for themselves all 
powers not surrendered in the Constitution, conse- 
quently retain the vast field of common, every-day, 
local government. But, all the more for this, it is a 
national government. Its powers, by not being local 
and minute, become wholly national ; the highest idea 
of a nation being that of a people directed in its pub- 
lic relations by a common government, and recognized 



Introduction, ix 

as such by other nations. Such a people may originate 
in tribal affinities, and grow up and become consoli- 
dated under a hereditary ruler, or may be formed 
from heterogeneous elements by the pressure of a 
strong and arbitrary government ; but that is the high- 
est type of a nation, which, like the United States, 
originally existing in separate, rival communities, from 
a consciousness of their separate insignificance in 
their fragmentary condition, and of their possibilities 
for a great future, has merged the separate sover- 
eignties of the parts in the more exalted sovereignty 
of the whole. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS.' 



Page 

Constitution entire 1-24 

Constitution with Comments 25 

DIVISION I. 

PREAMBLE. — HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES. 

The Preamble not an Enacting Clause, but expresses the 

Motives for establishing the Government .... 26 
The Three Departments of Government; the Thirteen Origi- 
nal States 26 

Congress must consist of Two Houses ; so the English Par- 
liament 28 

Advantages of Two Houses 28 

Kepresentatives are National Officers chosen every Two 

Years, and the Qualifications of their Electors . . 29 

People, Citizens, Voters 29 

Length of a Congress and of a Parliament .... 30 

The General Government embraces the "Whole Country . 30 

Qualifications of Representatives 30 

Citizens of the United States 31 

The Right of Suffrage in England 32 

Representative Population and Representatives ... 34 
"Number of Members in Parliament and in the National 

Assembly of France 34 

The Census and Direct Taxes 35 

Territorial Government 35 

Vacancies in the House of Representatives must be filled . 36 
The Speaker and the other Officers of the House of Repre- 
sentatives . . 36 

The Power of Impeachment 37 

1 As the titles of all the principal suhjects treated of in this hook are 
given in this table, and may be easily found, it will serve as an index as well 
as an analysis. 

zi 



xii Table of Contents, 

DIVISION II. 

OF THE SENATE. ^ 

Pagb 

"What the Senate represents, and Choice of its Members . 38 

Of the Three Classes of Senators, and filling Vacancies . 39 

Qualifications of Senators 40 

The Vice-President to be President of the Senate, and why . 40 

Ofi&ce and Pay of the Lord Chancellor of England . . 41 

The President jpro fempej'e of the Senate 41 

Trial of Impeachments, and who are Subject to them . . 42 

Impeachments here and in England 43 

Limitation of Punishment on Conniction by Impeachment . 43 

DIVISION III. 

SENATE AND HOUSE OP KEPRESENTATIVES CONJOINTIiT. 

Regulations in Regard to choosing Senators and Represen- 
tatives . . . ' 45 

Times of Meeting of Congress and of Parliament ... 46 

Each House to decide who are its Members, and to compel 

the Attendance of Absentees to secure'a Majority . . 47 

Contested Elections here and in England .... 47 

Each House to establish its Rules, and punish for Disorderly 

Conduct 48 

Each House to keep a Journal, and record the Yeas and 

Nays on Demand of One-Fifth of those Present . . 49 

Neither House can adjourn more than Three Days without 

the Consent of the other 50 

Adjournment and Dissolution of Parliament, and of the 

National Assembly of France . . . . . .50 

The Pay of Members, and Freedom from Arrest and Pun- 
ishment ; Members of Parliament not paid . . 51, 52 

Officers of the Government cannot be Members of Congress, 
nor Members of Congress be appointed to Offices of their 
own Creation .53 

DIVISION IV. 

liEGISLATIVE POWERS OF CONGRESS. 

Bills for raising Revenue must originate in the House of 

Representatives 54 



Tahle of Contents. xiii 

Page 

Method of passing Bills to Ibecome Laws 55 

The Enrolment of a Bill 66 

The Veto Power .56 

Joint Resolutions to be passed in the Same Manner as Bills 57 
Congress to have Power to lay and collect Taxes for Na- 
tional Debts, Defence, and Welfare . . . . 58, 59 
State Taxation Subordinate to National Taxation ... 60 
Expenses not to be paid by States, as under the Confedera- 
tion 60 

Congress to have Power to borrow Money, and its Securities 

not Taxable by States . . 61 

Congress to have Power to regulate Conmierce, and how it 

has done it 61, 62 

Commerce under the Confederation 62 

Rule for Naturalization established by Congress . . .63 

National and State Bankrupt Laws 64 

Coining and Begulating the Value of Money by Congress . 64 

Of Paper Money , .... 65 

Of Weights and Measures 65 

United States' and State Securities 65 

The Power of Congress over Post-offices and Post-roads 

Exclusive - . .66 

Classes of Postmasters, their Pay and Numbers . ' . . 67 
Congressional Laws for Copyright and Patents ... 68 
Tribunals Inferior to the Supreme Court established by 

Congress 68 

Of Piracy and Felony as defined and punished by the Laws 

of Congress 69 

Offences against the Law of Nations 70 

A State of War may be recognized without a Formal Decla- 

ratio]* 70 

A Declaration of Martial Law is a Declaration of War . . 71 
War dissolves all Amicable Relations between the Parties 

to it 71 

Nature and Effect of Letters of Marque and Reprisal . .72 

How a Capture iiiay be declared a Prize 72 

Armies may be raised in any Mode by Congress ... 73 
The Navy is provided and supported by Various Appropri- 
ations by Congress 73 

The Land and Naval Forces to be governed by Rules pro- 
vided by Congress 74 

Congress can call forth the Militia and other Forces to exe- 
cute the Laws of the Union, &c 75 



xiv Table of Contents. 

Page 
Congress is to determine the Plan of Organization for the 
Militia, and to have the Actual Government of them 

when in Service 76 

Congress is to exercise Exclusive Jurisdiction over the 
District for the National Government, and in Forts, 

Docks, &c. 76 

Congress is to make all Laws which are Necessary and 
Proper to render Effective all the Powers vested in the 

Government .77 

This General Power Necessary and Sufficiently Definite . 78 
All United States' Laws are of this Nature .... 78 
The Legislative Department of the Government necessarily 

the most Fundamental 79 

DIVISION V. 

RESTRICTIONS OJST THE POWERS OF CONGRESS AND OP 

THE STATES. 

Nature of the Restrictions on Congress 80 

Congress may not prohibit the Importation of Slaves into 

States prior to 1808 80 

The "Writ of Habeas Corpus not to he suspended, except in 

War, Insurrections, and the like ..... 81 

What a Bill of Attainder is, and what an Ex Post Facto Law 82 

Direct Taxes to be according to the Eepresentative Popu- 
lation . . 83 

No Tax to be laid on Exports, and no Preference to be 

given to one Port over another 84 

Money to be drawn from the Treasury only by Appropria- 
tions made by Law • . 84 

No Title of Nobility to be granted by Congress, nor are 

Presents to be received by Officials from Foreign Courts 85 

Nature of the Restrictions on the States 86 

' States prohibited from doing Certain Things allowed to the 

United States 86 

States prohibited from doing Certain Things impliedly al- 
lowed to the General Government 86 

States forbidden to do Certain Things which are also forbid- 
den to the General Government ...... 86 

Bills of Credit ; impairing the Obligation of Contracts . . 87 

States not to impose Duties on Exports or Imports . . 88 



Table of Contents. xv 

Page 
States are confined to Direct Taxation . . . . .89 
States not to lay Tonnage Duties, nor keep Troops or Sliips 

of War, nor enter into Compacts with other States . 90 
Belation of the State and the United States' Governments . 91 



DIVISION VI. 

ELECTION AJfD INDUCTION OF THE PRESIDENT. 

Of the Term of Office of the President . . . . 92, 93 

President of the French Republic, and his Cabinet . . 94 

Number of Electors of President to be chosen ... 94 

The Manner of their Election varies 95 

Their Choice by the Legislature not Constitutional . . 95 

Choosing the Electors is virtually choosing the President . 96 

Mode of voting for the President by the Electors ... 96 
Differences between the Constitutional Kequirements in the 

Original Clause and its Substitute 98 

Points of Superiority in the Substitute 99 

Electors are to make out Three Certified Lists of their Votes 99 

Of counting the Votes in Congress ...... 100 

The Electoral Commission in 1876 100 

Senator Edmunds' Plan for counting the Votes . . . 100 
A Choice by the House of Representatives gives the Smaller 

States a Great Advantage 101 

The Day for choosing the Electors, for giving their Votes, &c. 101 

Qualifications of the President 102 

The Vice-President to become President when the Presi- 
dent is disabled 102 

In case of the Disability, &c., of both President and Vice- 
President, the President pro tempore of the Senate, or 

Speaker of House of Representatives, to act as President 103 

Compensation of the President and Vice-President . . 104 

Oath of Office by the President , . 104 

DIVISION VII. 

POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE PRESIDENT. 

Is Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, and of the 

Militia when in Service 105 

May require the Opinion of Cabinet Officers, and grant Par- 
dons 105 



xvi Table of Contents. 

Page 
Cabinet Officers in the United States and in England . 106, 107 
Punishment on Impeachment not to be remitted by the 

President 108 

Shall make Treaties with the Concurrence of Two-Thirds of 

the Senate 108 

Shall nominate and, with the Consent of the Senate, appoint 

all National Officers whose Appointment is not provided 

for in the Constitution . 108 

The Immense Patronage of the President .... 109 

Of Treaties, Ambassadors, and Consuls 110 

Of dismissing Functionaries from Service .... Ill 
The President and Members of Congress are Constituent 

Officers of the Government Ill 

Of filling Vacancies in Offices by the President . . . 112 

General Government Officials protected in the States . . 112 

Power and Duties of the President in Regard to Congress . 113 
Is to receive Public Ministers, see the Laws executed, and 

commission all Officers of the Government . . . 113 
The President and all Civil Officers Liable to Impeachment, 

but not Members of Congress 114 

DIVISION vm. 

JUDICIAIi DEPARTMENT. 

The Department to consist of a Supreme Court, and such 

Inferior Courts as Congress may establish . . . 115 
The Judges to be Independent by Tenure of Office and a 

Fixed Salary 116 

Inferior Courts established by Congress . . . . . 116 

Judicial System of England 117 

"What is a Case in Law, and what a Case in Equity, both in 

our Country and in England 118 

What are Cases arising under the Laws, &c 119 

Of Cases of Ambassadors, and of Admiralty Jurisdiction . 119 

Of Special Controversies named 120 

Of the Original and Appellate Jurisdiction of the Supreme 

Court 121 

The Supreme Court has no Jury except in Criminal Cases . 121 

Trial of Crimes must be by Jury 122 

Of Treason against the United States 122 

Of the Punishment of Treason, and Confiscation of Keal 

Estate 123, 124 



Table of Contents. xvii 



DIVISION IX. 

misceliiajsteous provisions. 

Page 

The Legislative and Judicial Acts and Records of One State 

to have Full Credit in all Others 124 

The Usual Privileges of Citizenship to be enjoyed in Com- 
mon in all the States 125 

Fugitives from Justice in One State to be surrendered by the 

Others 126,127 

New States not formed from Others to be admitted to the 

Union by Congress 128 

The Territory and other Property of the United States to be 

under the Control of Congress 129 

States and Territories, and Regulations in Regard to the 

Latter 130 

Republican Government to be secured by the General Gov- 
ernment to all the States ....... 130 

What a Republican Government is ..... . 131 

Manner of making Amendments to the Constitution . . 132 

Obligations assumed by the Previous Governments to be 

binding under this 133 

The Constitution and Laws of the United States are the 

Supreme Law of the Land 134 

How the Constitutionality of the Laws are determined . 134 

All Important Officers of both the State and the General 
Government to be bound by Oath to support the Consti- 
tution 135 

Ratification of the Constitution, and Attestation of the Con- 
vention 136, 137 

DIVISION X. 

AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION. 

The Original Amendments designed as a Bill of Rights 
against the General Government, and not against the 
State Governments 138 

No Religion to be established, nor its Freedom, nor the 
Freedom of the Press, nor the Right of Petition, to be 
interfered with 139 

The Right of the People to bear Arms not to be infringed . 140 



xviii Table of Contents. 

Pagb 
Soldiers in Time of Peace not to "be quartered in any House 

without the Consent of the Owner 141 

The People to be Secure against General Search-Warrants . 141 
Persons in Time of Peace to be tried for Crimes only on 
Indictment, and only Once for the same Crime, and to 
be deprived of Property only by Due Process of Law . 142 

What an Indictment is 143 

Persons to be Secure against Dilatory, Irregular, Inconven- 
ient, and Arbitrary Trials for Crimes . . . .144 
Right of Trial by Jury to be preserved in Common Law-suits 

where the Amount at Stake exceeds Twenty Dollars . 145 
Excessive Bail or Fines, or Cruel Punishments, are not to be 

inflicted 145 

That the Foregoing Protected Rights of the People are not 

to be regarded as all their Rights 146 

That Powers not delegated to the United States, nor pro- 
hibited to the States, are reserved to the People . . 146 
The General Government certainly has the Right to exist, 
and to the Unimpeded Exertion of its Delegated and 
Implied Powers ......... 146 

Abolition of Slavery 148 

These Later Amendments are a Bill of Rights for the People 

against State Laws and Governments .... 148 
The Reconstruction Resolutions and their Requirements 149-152 
The Right to Vote not to be denied or abridged on Account 

of Race, Color, or Previous Servitude . . . . 153 

APPENDIX. 

I. Declaration of Independence . , . . • . 155 

II. Articles of Confederation 161 

III. Washington's Farewell Address 171 



CONSTITUTION 



OF THE 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



We, the people of the United States, in order to 
form a more perfect union, estabhsh justice, insure 
domestic tranquilhty, provide for the common defence, 
promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings 
of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and 
establish this Constitution for the United States of 
America. 

ARTICLE I. 

SECTION 1. 

[1.] All legislative powers herein granted shall be 
vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall 
consist of a Senate and House of Representatives. 

SECTION 2. 

[1.] The House of Representatives shall be com- 
posed of members chosen every second year by the 
people of the several States ; and the electors in each 

1 



2 Constitution of the United States. 

State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors 
of the most numerous branch of the State Legisla- 
ture. 

[2.] No person shall be a Representative who shall 
not have attained to the age of twenty-five years, and 
been seven years a citizen of the United States, and 
who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that 
State in which he shall be chosen. 

[3.] Representatives and direct taxes shall be ap- 
portioned among the several States which may be in- 
cluded within this Union, according to their respective 
numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the 
whole number of free persons, including those bound 
to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians 
not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons. The actual 
enumeration shall be made within three years after the 
first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and 
within every subsequent term of ten years, in such 
manner as they shall by law du-ect. The number of 
Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty 
thousand, but each State shall have at least one Repre- 
sentative ; and, until such enumeration shall be made, 
the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to choose 
three ; Massachusetts, eight ; Rhode Island and Provi- 
dence Plantations, one ; Connecticut, five ; New York, 
six ; New Jersey, four ; Pennsylvania, eight ; Dela- 
ware, one ; Maryland, six ; Virginia, ten ; North Caro- 
lina, five ; South Carolina, five ; and Georgia, three. 

[4.] When vacancies happen in the representation 
from any State, the executive authority thereof shall 
issue writs of election to fiU'such vacancies. 

[5.] The House of Representatives shall choose 



Constitution of the United States. 3 

their Speaker and other officers, and shall have the sole 
power of impeachment. 

SECTION 3. 

[1.] The Senate of the United States shall be com- 
posed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the 
Legislature thereof, for six years ; and each Senator 
shall have one vote. 

[2.] Immediately after they shall be assembled in 
consequence of the first election, they shall be divided 
as equally as may be into three classes. The seats of 
the Senators of the first class shall be vacated at the 
expiration of the second year, of the second class at 
the expiration of the fourth year, and of the third class 
at the expiration of the sixth year, so that one-third 
may be chosen every second year ; and if vacancies 
happen, by resignation or otherwise, during the recess 
of the Legislature of any State, the executive thereof 
may make temporary appointments until the next meet- 
ing of the Legislature, which shall then fill such vacan- 
cies. 

[3.] No person shall be a Senator who shall not 
have attained to the age of thirty years, and been nine 
years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, 
when elected, be an inhabitant of that State for which 
he shall be chosen. 

[4.] The Vice-President of the United States shall 
be President of the Senate, but shall have no vote, 
unless they be equally divided. 

[5.] The Senate shall choose their other officers, 
and also a President pi^o tempore in the absence of the 
Vice-President, or when he shall exercise the office of 
President of the United States. 



4 Constitution of the United States. 

[6.] The Senate shall have the sole power to try all 
impeachments. When sitting for that purpose, they 
shall be on oath or affirmation. When the President 
of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall 
preside ; and no person shall be convicted without the 
concurrence of two-thirds of the members iDresent. 

[7.] Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not 
extend further than to removal from office, and dis- 
qualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, 
trust, or profit, under the United States ; but the party 
convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to 
indictment, trial, judgment, and punishment, according 

to law. 

SECTION 4. 

[1.] The times, places, and manner of holding elec- 
tions for Senators and Representatives shall be pre- 
scribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but 
the Congress may, at any time, by law, make or alter 
such regulations, except as to the places of choosing 
Senators. 

[2.] The Congress shall assemble at least once in 
every year, and such meeting shall be on the first Mon- 
day in December, unless they shall b^^ law appoint a 

different day. 

SECTION 5. 

[1.] Each House shall be the judge of the elections, 
returns, and qualifications of its own members, and a 
majority of each shall constitute a quorum to do busi- 
ness ; but a smaller number maj^ adjourn from day to 
da}^, and may be authorized to compel the attendance 
of absent members, in such manner and under such 
penalties as each House may provide. 



Constitution of the United States. 5 

[2.] Each House may determine the rules of its 
proceedings, punish its members for disorderly be- 
havior, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel 
a member. 

[3.] Each House shall keep a journal of its proceed- 
ings, and, from time to time, publish the same, ex- 
cepting such parts as may in their judgment require 
secrecj^ ; and the yeas and na3's of the members of 
cither House, on any question, shall, at the desire of 
one-fifth of those present, be entered on the journal. 

[4.] Neither House, during the session of Congress, 
shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for 
more than three days, nor to any other place than that 
in which the two Houses shall be sitting. 

SECTION 6. 

[1.] The Senators and Representatives shall receive 
a compensation for their services, to be ascertained by 
law, and paid out of the treasur3^ of the United States. 
They shall in all cases, except treason, felon}^, and 
breach of the peace, be pri\i.leged from arrest during 
their attendance at the session of their respective 
Houses, and in going to and returning from the same ; 
and for any speech or debate in either House they 
shall not be questioned in any other place. 

[2.] No Senator or Representative shall, during the 
time for which he was elected, be appointed to any 
civil office under the authority of the United States 
which shall have been created, or the emoluments 
whereof shall have been increased, during such time ; 
and no person holding any office under the United 
States shall be a member of either House during his 
continuance in office. 



6 Constitution of the United States. 

SECTION 7. 

[1.] All bills for raising revenue shall originate in 
the House of Representatives ; but the Senate may 
propose or concur with amendments, as on other bills. 

[2.] Every bill which shall have passed the House 
of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it 
become a law, be presented to the President of the 
United States : if he approve, he shaU sign it ; but, if 
not, he shall return it, with his objections, to that House 
in which it shaU have originated, who shall enter the 
objections at large in their journal, and j)roceed to re- 
consider it. If, after such reconsideration, two-thirds of 
that House shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, 
together with the objections, to the other House, by 
which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and, if approved 
by two-thu'ds of that House, it shall become a law. 
But in all such cases the votes of both Houses shall be 
determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the 
persons voting for and against the bill shall be entered 
on the journal of each House respectively. If any bill 
shall not be returned by the President within ten days 
(Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented 
to him, the same shall be a law, in like manner as if 
he had signed it, unless the Congress, by their adjourn- 
ment, prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a 
law. 

[3.] Every order, resolution, or vote, to which the 
concurrence of the Senate and House of Representa- 
tives may be necessary (except on a question of ad- 
journment) , shaU be presented to the President of the 
United States, and, before the same shaU take effect, 
shall be approved by him ; or, being disapproved by 



Constitution of the United States. 7 

Mm, shall be repassed by two-thirds of the Senate and 
House of Eepresentatives, according to the rules and 
limitations j)rescribed in the case of a bill. 

SECTION 8. 

The Congress shall have power — 

[1.] To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and 
excises, to pay the debts, and provide for the common 
defence and general welfare of the United States : but 
all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform through- 
out the United States ; 

[2.] To borrow money on the credit of the United 
States ; 

[3.] To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and 
among the several States, and with the Indian tribes ; 

[4.] To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, 
and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies 
throughout the United States ; 

[5.] To coin money, regulate the value thereof and 
of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and 
measures ; 

[6.] To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting 
the securities and current coin of the United States ; 

[7.] To establish post-offices and post-roads ; 

[8.] To promote the progress of science and useful 
arts, by securing for limited times to authors and in- 
ventors the exclusive right to their respective writings 
and discoveries ; 

[9.] To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme 
Court ; 

[10.] To define and punish piracies and felonies 
committed on the high seas, and ofiences against tho 
law of nations ; 



8 Constitution of the United States, 

[II.] To declare war, grant letters of marque and 
reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land 
and water ; 

[12.] To raise and support armies, but no appro- 
priation of money to that use shall be for a longer 
term than two years ; 

[13.] To provide and maintain a navy ; 

[14.] To make rules for the government and regula- 
tion of the land and naval forces ; 

[15.] To provide for calling forth the militia to 
execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, 
and repel invasions ; 

[16.] To provide for organizing, arming, and disci- 
plining the militia, and for governing such part of them 
as may be employed in the service of the United States, 
reserving to the States respectively the appointment 
of the officers, and the authority of training the militia 
according to the discipline prescribed by Congress ; 

[17.] To exercise exclusive legislation, in all cases 
whatsoever, over such district (not exceeding ten 
miles square) as may, by cession of particular States 
and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of 
the Government of the United States, and to exercise 
like authority over all places purchased by the consent 
of the Legislature of the State in which the same shall 
be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dock- 
yards, and other needful buildings ; and 

[18.] To make all laws which shall be necessary and 
proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, 
and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the 
Government of the United States, or in any depart- 
ment or officer thereof. 



Constitution of the United States, 9 

SECTION 9. 

[1.] The migration or importation of such persons 
as any of the States now existing shall think proper 
to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to 
the year one thousand eight hundred and eight ; but a 
tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not 
exceeding ten dollars for each person. 

[2.] The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall 
not be suspended, unless when, in cases of rebellion or 
invasion, the public safety may require it. 

[3.] No bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall 
be passed. 

[4.] No capitation or other direct tax shall be laid, 
unless in proportion to the census or enumeration 
hereinbefore directed to be taken. 

[5.] No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported 
from any State. No preference shall be given by any 
regulation of commerce or revenue to the ports of one 
State over those of another ; nor shall vessels bound 
to or from one State be obliged to enter, clear, or pay 
duties in another. 

[6.] No money shall be drawn from the treasury but 
in consequence of appropriations made by law ; and a 
regular statement and account of the receipts and 
expenditures of all public money shall be published 
from time to time. 

[7.] No title of nobility shall be granted by the 
United States ; and no person holding any oflSce of 
profit or trust under them shaU, without the consent of 
the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, 
or title of any kind whatever from any king, prince, or 
foreign state. 



10 Constitution of the United States, 

SECTION 10. 

[1.] No State sliall enter into any treaty, alliance, 
or confederation ; grant letters of marque and reprisal ; 
coin money ; emit bills of credit ; make any thing but 
gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts ; pass 
any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing 
the obligation of contracts, or grant any title of nobility. 

[2.] No State shall, without the consent of the Con- 
gress, lay any imposts or duties on imports or exports 
except what may be absolutely necessary for executing 
its inspection laws : and i)i& net produce of all duties 
and imposts laid by any State on imports or exports 
shall be for the use of the treasury of the United States ; 
and all such laws shall be subject to the revision and 
control of the Congress. No State shall, without the 
consent of Congress, lay any duty of tonnage, keep 
troops or ships of war in time of peace, enter into 
any agreement or compact with another State or with 
a foreign power, or engage in war, unless actually 
invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit 
of delay. 

ARTICLE II. 

SECTION 1. 

[1.] The executive power shall be vested in a Presi- 
dent of the United States of America. He shall hold 
his office during the term of four years, and, together 
with the Vice-President, chosen for the same term, be 
elected as follows : — 

[2.] Each State shall appoint in such manner as the 
Legislature thereof may direct, a number of Electors 



Constitution of the United States, 11 

equal to the whole number of Senators and Representa- 
tives to which the State may be entitled in the Con- 
gress ; but no Senator or Representative, or person 
holding an office of trust or profit under the United 
States, shall be appointed an Elector. 

[3.] The Electors shall meet in their respective 
States, and vote by ballot for President and Vice-Presi- 
dent, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant 
of the same State with themselves ; they shall name 
in their ballots the person voted for as President, and 
in distinct ballots the j)erson voted for as Vice-Presi- 
dent ; and the}^ shall make distinct lists of all persons 
voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as 
Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, 
which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit 
sealed to the seat of the Government of the United 
States, du-ected to the President of the Senate. The 
President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the 
Senate and House of Representatives, open all the cer- 
tificates, and the votes shall then be counted: the 
person having the greatest number of votes for Presi- 
dent shall be the President, if such number be a majority 
of the whole number of Electors appointed ; and, if no 
person have such majority, then from the persons hav- 
ing the highest numbers not exceeding three on the 
list of those voted for as President, the House of Rep- 
resentatives shall choose immediatelj^, by ballot, the 
President. But in choosing the President the vote 
shall be taken b}^ States, the representation from each 
State having one vote ; a quorum for this purpose shall 
consist of a member or members from two-thirds of 
the States, and a majority of all the States shall be 



12 Constitution of the United States, 

necessary to a choice. And, if the House of Repre- 
sentatives shall not choose a President, whenever the 
right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth 
day of March next following, then the Vice-President 
shall act as President, as in the case of the death or 
other constitutional disability of the President. The 
person ha^ing the greatest number of votes as Vice- 
President shall be the Vice-President, if such number be 
a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed, 
and, if no person have a majority, then from the two 
highest numbers on the list the Senate shall choose the 
Vice-President ; a quorum for the purpose shall consist 
of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and 
a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a 
choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the 
office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice- 
President of the United States. 

[4.] The Congress may determine the time of choos- 
ing the Electors, and the day on which they shall give 
their votes ; which day shall be the same throughout 
the United States. 

[5.] No person except a natural-born citizen, or a 
citizen of the United States at the time of the adoption 
of this Constitution, shall be ehgible to the office of 
President ; neither shall any person be eligible to that 
office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty- 
five years, and been fourteen ^^ears a resident within 
the United States. 

[6.] In case of the removal of the President from 
office, or of his death, resignation, or inabihty to dis- 
charge the powers and duties of said office, the same 
shall devolve on the Vice-President ; and the Congress 



Constitution of the United States, 13 

may, by law, provide for the case of removal, death, 
resignation, or inability, both of the President and 
Vice-President, declaring what officer shall then act as 
President, and such officer shall act accordingly until 
the disability be removed, or a President shall be 
elected. 

[7.] The President shall, at stated times, receive 
for his services a compensation, which shall neither be 
increased nor diminished during the period for which 
he shall have been elected ; and he shall not receive 
within that period any other emolument from the United 
States, or any of them. 

[8.] Before he enter on the execution of his office, 
he shall take the following oath or affirmation : — 

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faith- 
fully execute the office of President of the United 
States, and will, to the best of my ability, iDreserve, 
protect, and defend the Constitution of the United 

States.'' 

SECTION 2. 

[1.] The President shall be commander-in-chief of 
the army and navy of the United States, and of the 
militia of the several States when called into the actual 
service of the United States ; he may require the 
opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of 
the executive departments upon any subject relating 
to the duties of their respective offices, and he shall 
have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offences 
against the United States, except in cases of impeach- 
ment. 

[2.] He shall have power, by and with the ad^ace 
and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided 



14 Constitution of the United States. 

two-thirds of the Senators present concur; and he 
shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent 
of the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public 
ministers and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, 
and all other officers of the United States whose 
appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, 
and which shall be established by law ; but the Con- 
gress may by law vest the appointment of such inferior 
officers as they think proper in the President alone, in 
the courts of law, or in the heads of departments. 

[3.] The President shall have power to fill up all 
vacancies that may happen during the recess of the 
Senate, by granting commissions which shall expire at 
the end of their next session. 

SECTION 3. 

He shall from time to time give to the Congress 
information of the state of the Union, and recommend 
to their consideration such measures as he shall judge 
necessary and expedient ; he may, on extraordinary 
occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and, 
in case of disagreement between them with respect to 
the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such 
time as he shall think proper ; he shall receive ambas- 
sadors and other public ministers ; he shall take care 
that the laws be faithfully executed, and shall commis- 
sion all the officers of the United States. 

SECTION 4. 

The President, Vice-President, and all civil officers 
of the United States, shall be removed from office on 
impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, 
or other high crimes and misdemeanors. 



Constitution of the United States. 15 



ARTICLE in. 

sectio:n" 1. 

The judicial power of the United States shall be 
vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior 
courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain 
and establish. The judges, both of the supreme and 
inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good 
behavior, and shall, at stated times, receive for their 
services a compensation which shall not be diminished 
during their continuance in office. 

SECTION 2. 

[1.] The judicial power shall extend to aU cases in 
law and equitj^ arising under this Constitution, the laws 
of the United States, and treaties made, or which shall 
be made, under their authority ; to all cases affecting 
ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls ; to 
all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction ; to 
controversies to which the United States shall be a 
party ; to controversies between two or more States ; 
between a State and citizens of another State ; between 
citizens of different States ; between citizens of the 
same State claiming lands under grants of different 
States ; and between a State, or the citizens thereof, 
and foreign states, citizens, or subjects. 

[2.] In all cases affecting ambassadors, other pub- 
lic ministers, and consuls, and those in which a State 
shall be a party, the Supreme Court shall have original 
jurisdiction. In all the other cases before mentioned, 
the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, 



16 Constitution of the United States. 

both as to law and fact, with such exceptions and under 
such regulations as the Congress shall make. 

[3.] The trial of all crimes, except in cases of im- 
peachment, shall be by jury ; and such trial shall be 
held in the State where the said crimes shall have been 
committed ; but, when not committed within any State, 
the trial shall be at such place or places as the Con- 
gress may by law have directed. 

SECTION 3. 

[1.] Treason against the United States shall con- 
sist only in levying war against them, or in adhering 
to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No 
person shall be convicted of treason, unless on the 
testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or 
on confession in open court. 

[2.] The Congress shall have power to declare the 
punishment of treason ; but no attainder of treason 
shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture, except 
during the life of the person attainted. 



AETICLE IV. 

SECTION 1. 

Full faith and credit shall be given in each State to 
the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of 
every other State. And the Congress may, by gen- 
eral laws, prescribe the manner in which such acts, 
records, and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect 
thereof. 



Constitution of the United States, 17 

SECTION 2. 

[1.] The citizens of each State shall be entitled to 
all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several 
States. 

[2.] A person charged in any State with treason, 
felony, or other crime, who shall flee from justice, and 
be found in another State, shall, on demand of the 
executive authorit}'" of the State from which he fled, be 
delivered up, to be removed to the State having juris- 
diction of the crime. 

[3.] No person held to service or labor in one State, 
under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, 
in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be dis- 
charged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered 
up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor 
maj^ be due. 

SECTION 3. 

[1.] New States maybe admitted by the Congress 
into this Union ; but no new State shall be formed or 
erected within the jurisdiction of any other State, nor 
any State be formed b}^ the junction of two or more 
States or parts of States, without the consent of the 
Legislatures of the States concerned, as well as of 
the Congress. 

[2.] The Congress shall have power to dispose of, 
and make all needful rules and regulations respecting, 
the territory or other property belonging to the United 
States ; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so 
construed as to prejudice any claims of the United 
States, or of any particular State. 



18 Constitution of the United States, 

SECTION 4. 
The United States shall guarantee to every State in 
this Union a republican form of government, and shall 
protect each of them against invasion, and, on appli- 
cation of the Legislature (or of the Executive when 
the Legislature cannot be convened) , against domestic 
violence. 

ARTICLE V. 

The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both Houses 
shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to 
this Constitution, or, on the application of the Legisla- 
tures of two-thirds of the several States, shall call a 
convention for proposing amendments, which, in either 
case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part 
of this Constitution when ratified by the Legislatures 
of three-fourths of the several States, or by conven- 
tions in three-fourths thereof, as the one or the other 
mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress : 
provided, that no amendment which may be made prior 
to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight shall 
in any manner afifect the first and fourth clauses in the 
ninth section of the first article ; and that no State, 
without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suf- 
frage in the Senate. 

ARTICLE VI. 

[1.] All debts contracted and engagements entered 
into, before the adoption of this Constitution, shall be 
as valid against the United States under this Constitu- 
tion as under the Confederation. 



Constitution of tlie United States. 19 

[2.] This Constitution, and the laws of the United 
States which shall be made in pursuance thereof, aad 
all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the 
authority of the United States, shall be the sui)re7Qe 
law of the land ; and the judges in every State shall 
be bound thereb}^, any thing in the constitution or laws 
of any State to the contrary notwithstanding. 

[3.] The Senators and Representatives before men- 
tioned, and the members of the several State Legisla- 
tures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of 
the United States and of the several States, shall be 
bound by oath or affirmation to support this Constitu- 
tion ; but no religious test shall ever be required as a 
qualification to any office or public trust under the 
United States. 

ARTICLE VII. 

The ratification of the conventions of nine States 
shall be sufficient for the estabhshment of this Consti- 
tution between the States so ratifying the same. 



AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION. 

ARTICLE I. 

Congress shall make no law respecting an establish- 
ment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise there- 
of ; or abridging the freedom of speech or of the ]3ress ; 
or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and 
to petition the government for a redress of grievances. 



20 Constitution of the United States, 

ARTICLE II. 

A well-regulated militia being necessary to the se- 
curity of a free state, the right of the people to keep 
and bear arms shall not be infringed. 

ARTICLE III. 

No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in 
any house without the consent of the owner, nor in time 
of war but in a manner to be prescribed by law. 

ARTICLE IV. 

The right of the people to be secure in their per- 
sons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable 
searches and seizures, shaU not be violated ; and no 
warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, sup- 
ported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describ- 
ing the place to be searched, and the persons or things 
to be seized. 

ARTICLE V. 

No person shall be held to answer for a capital or 
otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment 
or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising 
in the land or naval forces, or in the militia when in 
actual service in time of war or public danger ; nor 
shall any person be subject for the same offence to be 
twice put in jeopardy of life or limb ; nor shall be 
compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against 
himself; nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, 
without due process of law ; nor shall private property 
be taken for public use without just compensation. 



Oonstitution of the United States, 21 

AETICLE VI. 

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy 
the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial 
jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall 
have been committed, which district shall have been 
previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of 
the nature and cause of the accusation ; to be con- 
fronted with the witnesses against him ; to have com- 
pulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, 
and to have the assistance of counsel for his defence. 

ARTICLE Vn. 

In suits at common law where the value in contro- 
versy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial 
by jury shall be preserved ; and no fact tried by a jury 
shall be otherwise re-examined in any com-t of the 
United States than according to the rules of the com- 
mon law. 

ARTICLE VIII. 

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive 
fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments in- 
flicted. 

AETICLE IX. 

The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights 
shall not be construed to deny or disparage others 
retained by the people. 

AETICLE X. 

The powers not delegated to the United States by 
the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are 
reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. 



22 Constitution of the United States. 

ARTICLE XI. 

The judicial power of the United States shall not be 
construed to extend to any suit in law or equity com- 
menced or prosecuted against one of the United States 
by citizens of another State, or by citizens or subjects 
of any foreign State. 

ARTICLE Xn. 

[For this amendment see Art. II., 3.] 

ARTICLE XIII. 

[1.] Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, ex- 
cept as a punishment for crime, whereof the party 
shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the 
United States, or any place subject to their jurisdic- 
tion. 

[2.] Congress shall have power to enforce this arti- 
cle by appropriate legislation. 

ARTICLE XIV. 

[1.] All persons born or naturalized in the United 
States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citi- 
zens of the United States and of the State wherein 
they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law 
which shall abridge the pri^dleges or immunities of 
citizens of the United States ; nor shall any State de- 
prive any person of life, liberty, or property, without 
due process of law, nor deny to any person within its 
jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. 

[2.] Representatives shall be apportioned among 
the several States according to their respective num- 



Constitution of the United States. 23 

bers, counting the whole number of persons in each 
State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the 
right to vote at any election for the choice of Elect- 
ors for President and Vice-President of the United 
States, Representatives in Congress, the executive and 
judicial officers of a State, or the members of the 
Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhab- 
itants of such State, being twenty-one years of age 
and citizens of the United States, or in any way 
abridged, except for participation in rebellion or other 
crime, the basis of representation therein shall be re- 
duced in the proportion which the number of such 
male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male 
citizens twenty-one years of age in such State. 

[3.] No person shall be a Senator or Representative 
in Congress, or Elector of President and Vice-President, 
or hold any office, civil or military, under the United 
States, or under any State, who, having previously 
taken an oath as a member of Congress, or as an 
officer of the United States, or as a member of any 
State Legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer 
of any State, to support the Constitution of the United 
States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion 
against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies 
thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds 
of each House, remove such disability. 

[4.] The validity of the pubhc debt of the United 
States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for 
payment of pensions and bounties for services in sup- 
pressing insurrection or rebeUion, shall not be ques- 
tioned. But neither the United States nor anj^ State 
shall assume or pay any debt or obhgation incurred in 



24 Constitution of the United States. 

aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United 
States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of 
any slave ; but all such debts, obligations, and claims 
shall be held illegal and void. 

[5.] The Congress shall have power to enforce, by 
appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. 

ARTICLE XV. 

[1.] The right of citizens of the United States to 
vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United 
States, or by any State, on account of race, color, or 
previous condition of servitude. 

[2.] The Congress shall have power to enforce this 
article by appropriate legislation. 



CONSTITUTION. 

WITH COMMENTS, 



DIVISION I. 

PREAMBLE. — HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 

" We, the people of the United States, in order to 
form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure 
domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, 
promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings 
of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain 
and establish this Constitution for the United States 
of America." 

A constitution is an instrument which constitutes 
the form of a government, setting forth its powers, 
duties, and limitations, and the agencies and func- 
tionaries by which it is to be conducted. It is properly 
a written document, drawn out in form. But in Eng- 
land and other countries, where no such written form 
has been enacted, the constitution is merely a body of 
principles derived from ancient usages, charters, bills 
of rights, and the general current of antecedent legisla- 

25 



26 Constitution of the United States. 

tion. Such a constitution is more or less changed by 
every legislative act which embodies a new principle, 
and may be wholly subverted by such an act. Our 
Constitution, on the contrary, can be legall}^ changed 
only by a formal amendment, approved by the people 
or legislatures of at least three-fourths of the States 
of the Union (see Art. Y.). 

This introductory clause, which is commonly called 
the Preamble (and evidently is not an enacting clause) , 
states the motives for establishing the new government ; 
viz., to form a more perfect union, provide for the com- 
mon defence, and secure justice, domestic tranquillit}^, 
and the general welfare, with the blessings of liberty, to 
themselves and their posterity. Under the Articles of 
Confederation, which had been in force some eight 
years, these ends had been very imperfectly attained, 
as each of the States retained its separate sovereignty 
and independence, and yielded little more than ad- 
visory powers^ in setthng difficulties between the States 
and providing for the common good, to the general 
government embodied in the Continental Congress at 
Philadelphia. On the contrary, the government estab- 
lished by this Constitution is one of positive and defi- 
nite powers of control over certain general interests 
throughout the Union, which are named in the instru- 
ment, and were distinctly surrendered to it as its own 
by the States. 

Experience has shown that it is dangerous to liberty 
to have all governmental powers intrusted to the same 
hands or body of men ; and, as these powers are of 
three difierent kinds, — the legislative, the executive, 
and the judicial, — they are organized in this Constitu- 



Souse of Representatives, 27 

tion under three distinct articles, Article I. being de- 
voted to the legislative department. These and the 
other articles describe how and within what limits the 
general government is to control and promote the gen- 
eral welfare, &c., of the people of the different States, 
leaving them to provide for their own interests in all 
other respects. 

The thirteen States in existence at that time, and 
which finally ratified and adopted this Constitution, 
were Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, 
Connecticut, Massachusetts. Maryland, North Carolina, 
South Carohna, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, 
Ehode Island. 

ARTICLE I. — THE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. 

SECTION 1. 
' ' AU legislative powers herein granted shall be vested 
in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist 
of a Senate and House of Representatives." 

" All legislative powers herein granted." These 
powers are all enumerated in the first seventeen clauses 
of the eighth section of this article, except what are 
plainly included in the eighteenth clause, which is very 
comprehensive, though definite, in its scope. These 
powers, as well as the powers of the other depart- 
ments of this general government over the States, were 
" granted," or surrendered, to it by the States through 
their delegates in the convention in Philadelphia which 
formed the Constitution. They were granted without 
reservation for "themselves and their posterity," as 
stated in the preamble, and hence belong wholly and 
forever to the general government. 



28 Constitution of the United States, 

Under the Constitution, therefore, Congress must 
consist of two houses, and may never legislate as a 
single body, as had been done under the articles of 
confederation as well as in the legislatures of some 
of the States. In like manner the British Parliament 
consists of two houses, — the House of Lords and the 
House of Commons. Besides, the sovereign of Eng- 
land has a decided influence in the legislation through 
his prerogative as well as through his Cabinet, who 
are all members of Parliament, the legislative power 
being really that of King, Lords, and Commons (see 
Bagehot's " English Constitution ") . 

The advantages of two houses over one for wise 
legislation are obvious. In the first place, there is less 
danger of unwise measures being rushed through ; since 
a longer time is required to get them through two 
bodies than to get them through one, thus giving more 
time for considering them, and enforcing more attention 
to their details. The discussions in one house, as well 
as the discussions in the newspapers, enlighten the 
other house, and suggest amendments. Again : the 
houses being necessarily constituted on somewhat dif- 
ferent principles, the same personal or party influences 
are not likely to prevail in both of them ; so that un- 
wise, unjust, or partisan measures in one are pretty 
sure to be checked and corrected in the other, 

SECTION 2. 

[Clause 1,] "The House of Representatives shall 
be composed of members chosen every second year by 
the people of the several States, and the electors in 



House of Representatives. 29 

each State shall have the qualifications requisite for 
electors of the most numerous branch of the State 
legislature." 

The representatives in Congress, then, from the dif- 
ferent States, being national officers, are to be chosen 
by thQ people thereof, as national voters, for two years, 
and not b}' their legislatures (and hence not b}^ the 
States in their political capacitj'-), as was generally 
done under the Articles of Confederation, and that for 
but one year, or less, at the will of the legislature. 
The people, however, who are to vote for these repre- 
sentatives, are not necessarily all the inhabitants (the 
term being here used simply in distinction from the 
legislature), nor even the same classes of inhabitants, 
in the different States, but onl}" such in each State as 
by the laws thereof are allowed to vote for the mem- 
bers of the popular branch of their own legislature, 
which is likely to embrace a considerable portion of the 
people. 

There are, therefore, no uniform qualifications for the 
electors of representatives to the national legislature 
estabhshed in the Constitution ; but these are left to 
be determined b}'' the States, which elect not only the 
officers of their own governments, but the constituent 
members of the general government also, which latter, 
however, must have the quahfications prescribed by the 
Constitution. All "citizens," "inhabitants," "peo- 
ple," therefore, are not necessarily voters. Voting is 
a right which may be allowed or withheld by a State 
or nation, it being a pohtical, not a natural or civil, 
right. 



80 Constitution of the United States, 

As the representatives are to be chosen every second 
year, and one-third of the senators go out every sec- 
ond 3'ear, the same Congress lasts but two years. And 
as the Constitution went into operation March 4, 1789, 
a new Congress commences in March every odd year.^ 
In England the members of the House of Commons 
are elected for seven years ; which is the duration of a 
Parliament, unless sooner dissolved by the sovereign. 
But neither our Congress nor the British Parliament 
generally sits continuousl}^ during their whole term. 

The legislative department of the general govern- 
ment, it will be seen, by consisting of senators and 
representatives from the different States, embraces the 
whole country ; and the same is true of the other de- 
partments. For national purposes, the States are 
mere districts of the general government, and their 
voters national voters. 

[Clause 2.] "No person shall be a representative 
who shall not have attained to the age of twenty-five 
years, and been seven years a citizen of the United 
States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhab- 
itant of that State in which he shall be chosen. ' ' 

A representative in Congress, then, must be at 
least twenty-five years old, an inhabitant of the State 
from which he is chosen, and have been seven years a 
citizen of the United States, thus requiring special 

^ As the presidential term of office is four years, a new President enters 
upon his office every other odd year, though chosen in the latter part of 
the year before ; as representatives, also, are chosen in the latter part of the 
year before their term begins. 



House of Representatives, 31 

limitations in State voting for national representatives. 
A senator in Congress, it is subsequently provided 
(Sect. 3, 3), with the same qualifications in other 
respects, must be thirty years old ; while no one can 
be President of the United States who is not thirty-five 
years old, a natural-born citizen, and has not resided 
at least fourteen years in the United States. (Art. 
II., Sect. 1, 5.) 

The phrase " citizen of the United States " is found 
in the Constitution as it originally stood, only in the 
three places indicated above, where it ob-vdously refers 
to citizenship acquired by naturalization. Foreigners 
who had proved their patriotism by sharing in the 
dangers and toils of the Revolution, if naturalized 
citizens (and manj^ had become such by naturalization 
in the difl'erent States), were to be eligible to the 
honors and offices of the Republic after a certain num- 
ber of years, as those having passed the like novitiate 
are still ehgible under the Constitution to every office 
except the presidency. 

A native or naturalized " inhabitant " of a State is 
of course a citizen of that State, and by the fourteenth 
amendment he is also a citizen of the United States. 
•To be eligible as a representative in Congress, it is not 
required that the inhabitant of a State should reside in 
any particular district, or possess any other quahfica- 
tion whatever, except that of age, and, if a foreigner, 
citizenship by naturalization of at least seven years' 
standing. Practically, however, electors always vote 
for a candidate in their own election district. But in 
England, which is not divided ofl" into special territorial 
election districts, one is often a candidate for election 



32 Constitution of the United States, 

to the House of Commons in places remote from his 
home. 

In England the right of suffrage, or of voting for 
members of the House of Commons, after being char- 
acterized by the greatest illiberality and irregularity for 
centuries, finall}^, under the Reform Bill of the Disraeli 
ministry of 1867-1868, was allowed to the following 
classes : 1st, In counties^ — to those holding in fee, or 
by possession, property of the annual value of forty 
shillings or more ; to those holding by possession, or 
by lease, for not less than sixty years, property' of the 
annual value of five pounds, or of fifty pounds for 
twent}^ years ; to occupiers of lands rated at twelve 
pounds or more per year. 2d, In boroughs (i.e., vil- 
lages and cities) , — to the occupiers of dwelling-houses 
who have paid their poor rates ; to the occupiers of 
rooms or tenements, other than dwelling-houses, of 
the annual value of ten pounds. Voting in the United 
States has regularly been by ballot ; but in England 
the right to vote by ballot has been but -recently 
acquired. In France suffrage is nominally as liberal 
as in the United States, — all male citizens of twent}^- 
one years of age being allowed to vote. 

[Clause 3.] " Representatives and direct taxes shall 
be apportioned among the several States which may be 
included within this Union, according to their respec- 
tive numbers [which shall be determined by adding to 
the whole number of free persons], including those 
bound to service for a term of years, and excluding 
Indians not taxed [three-fifths of all other persons]. 



Souse of Representatives, 33 

The actual enumeration shall be made within three 
years after the first meeting of the Congress of the 
United States, and within every subsequent term of 
ten 3^ears, in such manner as they shall by law direct. 
The number of representatives shall not exceed one 
for every thirty thousand, but each State shall have at 
least one representative ; and, until such enumeration 
shaU be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be 
entitled to choose three ; Massachusetts, eight ; Rhode 
Island and Providence Plantations, one ; Connecticut, 
five ; New York, six ; New Jersey, four ; Pennsyl- 
vania, eight ; Delaware, one ; Maryland, six ; Vir- 
ginia, ten ; North Carolina, five ; South Carolina, five ; 
and Georgia, three." 

The portions of this clause included in brackets 
have been superseded by the abolition of slavery. 
Before this was abohshed, three-fifths of the slaves 
(referred to here by "all other persons") were 
reckoned in the representative population of each State 
where slavery existed. Those ' ' bound to service for 
a term of 3'ears " were not slaves, but minors " bound 
out," or indentured to some one, by parents or guard- 
ians, to learn some trade or business. Indians occu- 
pying reservations within the boundaries of any State 
are not to be taxed, nor to be included in the enumera- 
tion of the representative population. Since the abo- 
lition of slavery, all freedmen are reckoned in the 
representative population, if allowed to vote (see 
fourteenth amendment) . This gives the former slave 



34 Constitution of the United States. 

States thirteen additional representatives in Con- 
gress, and the same additional number of presidential 
electors. 

At the first census, in 1790, the whole population of 
the country (including slaves) was a little less than 
four millions, and the number of representatives in 
Congress, sixty-five ; while, by the census of 1870, the 
population was a little less than thirty-eight and a 
half millions, and the present number of representa- 
tives is two hundred and ninety-two. In the first 
case, the ratio of apportionment was thirt}^ thousand 
people for each representative, while at present it is 
something over a hundred and thirty thousand for each 
representative. 

In England, since the Reform Act of Lord Grey in 
1832, the House of Commons has consisted of six 
hundred and fiftj^-eight members ; and in 1873 the 
House of Lords numbered four hundred and seventy- 
seven. Under the present French Republic, the 
Chamber of Deputies consists of five hundred and 
thirty- two members, chosen by the people of the 
Arrondissements ; and the Senate, of three hundred 
members, seventy-five of them chosen for life by the 
Chamber of Deputies, and the remainder by the Gen- 
eral Councils and the Communal Deputies of the De- 
partments for the term of nine j^ears, one-third of 
them retiring every third year. 

The census is taken regularly every ten j^ears by the 
United States' marshals (corresponding to sheriffs in 
the State courts) , and their assistants, who visit every 
dwelling and every family, making such inquiries as 
are required by the law, which must be answered under 



House of Representatives, 35 

penalty for refusing. These inquiries pertain not only 
to the number of inhabitants, but to the various pur- 
suits, industries, and resources of the country, making 
the census a most valuable statistical document. 

Direct taxes are taxes assessed directly on any kind 
of property according to its supposed value, as money, 
land, and the like ; while indirect taxes are collected in 
the form of duties on articles imported into the countr}" 
from abroad, or as an excise on manufactures or busi- 
ness at home. Under the Articles of Confederation, 
the expenses of the general government for the com- 
mon defence and the general welfare were paid in 
direct taxes by the several States, according to the 
value of improved lands within their borders. In like 
manner, it is provided in this clause of the Constitu- 
tion, that all taxes assessed by the general government 
direct^ on property in any State shall be in proportion 
to its representative population. But taxes levied thus 
on the property of the different States, as such, are so 
inconvenient, that they have rarely been resorted to ; 
the general government depending for its support, with 
the exception of an excise on the manufacture of 
spirits and tobacco, almost wholly upon taxes collected 
on imported articles from abroad. 

Every Territory provided with a regular^ organized 
territorial governmeDt (consisting of a governor, 
judges, and certain other officers, appointed by the 
President, with the consent of the Senate) is allowed 
to have a delegate in Congress, who maj^ take part in 
the debates, but cannot vote. In 1871 the District 
of Columbia received from Congress a territorial gov- 
ernment, but without the power of sending a delegate 
to Congi'ess. 



36 Constitution of the United States, 

[Clause 4.] " When vacancies happen in the repre- 
sentation from any State, the executive authority 
thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such va- 
cancies." 

This clause provides for filling vacancies in the 
representation from any State, occasioned by death, 
resignation, or otherwise, by new elections. Members 
so chosen serve only for the residue of the term which 
has become vacant. The Constitution here, as well as 
in relation to filling vacancies in the Senate, and in 
many other places, acts directly upon State authorities, 
requiring some duty of them (they " shall" do so and 
so) . To refuse to perform the duty enjoined would 
be incipient rebellion, and, if persisted in, would justify 
coercion. 

[Clause 5.] "The House of Representatives shall 
choose their Speaker and other oflScers, and shall have 
the sole power of impeachment." 

The Speaker is the presiding officer of the house, 
and on many accounts is the most important member 
of the body, and particularly because he has the ap- 
pointment of the various committees which prepare 
most of the bills to be acted upon by the house. ^ The 
other officers of the house are : a clerk (salary, four 
thousand five hundred dollars) , who, with his assistants, 
keeps the records of its proceedings, and holds over 

1 There are forty-seven permanent committees, besides numerous special 
committees. 



The Senate, 37 

till the next house is organized, and presides at its 
organization ; a sergeant-at-arms (salary, four thousand 
dollars) , who executes the commands of the house ; a 
doorkeeper (salar}^, two thousand five hundred dollars) ; 
and a postmaster, who has charge of the mail matter 
of the members. These subordinate officers are all 
sworn to keep the secrets of the house. The Consti- 
tution supposes the duties of the Speaker to be known 
from common law and English usage, as well as from 
earlier usage in our own countr3^ 

The sole power of impeachment, here given to the 
House of Representatives, is the sole power of pre- 
paring articles of impeachment against officers of the 
general government, and providing for presenting and 
defending them before the Senate : the actual trial of 
impeachments is reserved for the Senate (Sect. 3, 6). 



DIVISION II. 
OF THE SENATE. 

SECTION 3. 
[Clause 1.] "The Senate of the United States shall 
be composed of two senators from each State, chosen 
by the legislature thereof, for six years ; and each 
senator shall have one vote." 

As the senators represent the States as such, they 
are to be chosen by their legislatures. In the Senate, 
therefore, the States, without regard to their size, 
wealth, or population, are represented equally, though 



38 Constitution of the United States, 

each senator has a separate vote ; while, under the 
Articles of Confederation (where there was no Senate) , 
the delegates to Congress from each State could cast 
but one vote, which was that agreed upon by a majority 
of their number. 

The Constitution does not prescribe the mode by 
which the legislatures are to choose senators. Till 
quite recently, therefore, they were chosen in some of 
the States by a separate vote in each house, both con- 
curring in the election of the same individual ; and in 
others by both houses meeting and voting as one body, 
called a joint vote. Now, however, by a law of Con- 
gress in 1866, they are to be nominated by a viva 
voce vote in each house ; and, if not elected by this 
vote, they are to be chosen in joint session of the two 
houses by ballot, the voting to commence at noon on 
the day following the second Tuesday after the organi- 
zation of the legislature, and to proceed day by day, 
till an election is effected. The election is to be made 
b}' the legislature last chosen before the expiration of 
the term of the outgoing senator. As the State legis- 
latures elect the senators, they sometimes assume to 
' ' instruct ' ' them how to vote on certain questions ; 
but, as Burke says, " the representative owes to his 
constituents, not his industry only, but his judgment.** 

[Clause 2.] " Immediately after the}' shall be assem- 
bled in consequence of the first election, they shall be 
divided as equally as may be into three classes. The 
seats of the senators of the first class shall be vacated 
at the expiration of the second year, of the second 



The Senate. 39 

class at the expiration of the fourth year, and of the 
third class at the expiration of the sixth year, so that 
one-third may be chosen every second year ; and if 
vacancies happen by resignation, or otherwise, during 
the recess of the legislature of any State, the Execu- 
tive thereof may make temporary appointments until 
the next meeting of the legislature, which shall then 
fill such vacancies." 

The effect of this clause is to change one-third of 
the Senate everj^ two years by the departure of old 
members, and the introduction of new ones in their 
places. At the first session the senators from the 
different States were distributed by lot into three 
classes, keeping the classes as nearly equal in number 
as might be ; and the members of the first class were 
to go out at the end of two years, those of the second 
at the end of four years, and those of the third at the 
end of six years. And, when new States are admitted 
to the Union, their senators are distributed by lot 
between the two classes having the smallest numbers. 
In this way the majority of the senators are always 
experienced members, and but one of the senators 
from any State can at any time be a new member. 

The temporary appointments of senators by the 
Executive of a State, here pro^aded for, continue only 
till the meeting of the legislature, which is then re- 
quired to fill such vacancies. An anticipated vacancy, 
of course, cannot be filled b}^ an Executive till it 
actually occurs. That would be to fill a vacancy when 
there is none, and to anticipate a dut}' which would 



40 Constitution of the United States, 

belong to a successor, and one possibly of different 
politics. 

[Clause 3.] "No person shall be a senator who 
shall not have attained to the age of thirty years, and 
been nine years a citizen of the United States, and 
who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that 
State for which he shall be chosen." 

The qualifications of a senator are precisely the 
same as those of a representative, except that he is 
required to be five years older (Sect. 2, 2). It will 
be observed that it is not required of either the senator 
or the representative that he shall continue to reside 
in the State during his term of service. 

[Clause 4.] "The Vice-President of the United 
States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have 
no vote unless they be equally divided." 

This is the only duty specificall}^ enjoined upon the 
Vice-President while there is an actual incumbent of 
the presidency. And it is so arranged in order to pre- 
serve the exact equality of the States in the Senate ; 
since, if a senator from an}^ State was allowed to pre- 
side, appoint the committees, and vote in ordinar}" 
cases, it would give that State a preponderance over 
the others in that bod}^ But, as the theory of equality 
among the States is not designed to be maintained in 
the House of Representatives, a member of that House 
is allowed to be its Speaker or presiding officer, and to 



The Senate. 41 

have a vote like other members. The Vice-President, 
owing his election to the country at large, it was 
thought he would be a perfectly impartial presiding 
officer in the Senate. 

In England the Lord Chancellor is the regular pre- 
siding officer in the House of Lords, and furnished the 
model according to which it was supposed the presiding 
officer in our Senate would proceed in the discharge of 
his duties till these were specially prescribed by law. 
The Enghsh Chancellor, or Speaker of the House of 
Lords, receives a salary of $19,360 a year, in addition 
to $29,040 which he receives annually as Judge of 
Appeals in Chancery. 

[Clause 5.] "The Senate shall choose their other 
officers, and also a President pro tempore^ in the 
absence of the Vice-President, or when he shall 
exercise the office of President of the United States." 

The " other officers " of the Senate are the same as 
those in the House of Representatives (Sect. 2, 5) ; 
and a "President pro tempore ^^ is to be chosen, not 
onl}^ to preside in the Senate in the absence of the 
Vice-President, as here described, but also as, in case 
the Vice-President too should die or resign, he would 
become President of the United States for the time 
being, as is provided by an act of Congress March 1 , 
1792. Hence it is all important that the Senate should 
always be provided with a President pro tempore during 
the recess of Congress. And this is regularly done 
by the withdi'awing of the Vice-President at some time 



42 Constitution of the United States. 

during the session, that the Senate may appoint a 
temporary President of its own. The President pro 
tempore does not lose his right to vote while he occu- 
pies the position of presiding officer. His salary is 
$8,000 a year, the same as that of the Vice-President, 
whose place he temporarily fiUs. 

[Clause 6.] " The Senate shall have the sole power 
to try all impeachments. When sitting for that pur- 
pose, they shall be on oath or affirmation. "When the 
President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice 
shall preside ; and no person shall be convicted without 
the concurrence of two-thirds of the members present." 

The articles of impeachment, as we have seen, are 
to be presented and defended before the Senate b^;^ the 
House of Representatives ; and the Senate, as we see 
here, is to try the case as a court, being under oath 
or affirmation like jurymen ; and a majority of two- 
thirds is required to convict. The "affirmation" is 
for such as have conscientious scruples about taking an 
oath. The President, Vice-President, and all civil offi- 
cers of the United States, are subject to impeachment 
for treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misde- 
meanors (Art. II., Sect. 4). Senators and representa- 
tives, not being commissioned officers, are not subject 
to impeachment. 

The Chief Justice is to preside in the Senate at the 
trial of an impeachment of the President of the United 
States, as the Vice-President, the regular presiding 
officer in that body, would be likely to be partial in 



The Senate. 43 

such a case, since, if the President should be convicted, 
he would himself become President. As the Chief Jus- 
tice merely occupies the place of the Vice-President as 
presiding officer in this particular case, it would seem 
that he should have no extra authority in the trial in 
consequence of his judicial character, though Chief 
Justice Chase maintained the opposite doctrine at the 
trial of President Johnson. 

In England, also, articles of impeachment are brought 
forward by the House of Commons, and are tried by 
the House of Lords. But the Lords give their verdict 
upon their honor, and a simple majority is required to 
convict. But two cases of impeachment under the 
Constitution (that of Judge John Pickering in 1803 
and Judge W. H. Humphries in 1832) have been suc- 
cessful in this country, and but very few in recent times 
in England. In the United States only government 
officials are subject to impeachment, but in England 
aU the King's subjects. 

[Clause 7.] "Judgment, in cases of impeachment, 
shall not extend further than to removal from office 
and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of 
honor, trust, or profit under the United States ; but 
the part}^ convicted shall nevertheless be liable and 
subject to indictment, trial, judgment, and punishment, 
according to law." 

This clause limits the effect of conviction on an 
impeachment. Impeachment being for offences in civil 
office, its du'ect punishment by Congress is very prop- 



44 Constitution of the United States. 

erly confined to removal from and disqualification for 
such offices ; though still leaving the offender liable to 
prosecution in the courts and punishment for his 
ofl"ences as far as they are of a legal nature, or offences 
against justice and good order. It thus removed the 
danger of inflicting excessive punishments for impeach- 
ment by Congress from party and political considera- 
tions, as was often done in former times in England, 
where the whole punishment on impeachments is left 
with Parliament. 

DIVISION III. 

OF THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTA- 
TIVES CONJOINTLY. 

SECTION 4. 
[Clause 1.] "The times, places, and manner of 
holding elections for senators and representatives 
shall be prescribed in each State by the legislature 
thereof; but the Congress may at any time by law 
make or alter such regulations, except as to the places 
of choosing senators." 

It thus appears that not only are the qualifications 
of the electors of members of Congress left to the 
different States, but also the determination, in the first 
instance, of the times, places, and manner of their 
election. Congress, however, reserves the right of 
making or altering such regulations as the States may 
make on these points ; and these regulations, when thus 
changed, must be conformed to by the States in their 



Senate and House of Representatives Conjointly. 45 

voting. But the place of choosing the senators cannot 
be changed ; since these are necessarily chosen by the 
legislature at the seat of government in each State, 
which is the place of their meeting. 

As to the manner of choosing senators, Congress 
has enacted, as we have seen (Sect. 3, 1), that they 
shall be chosen by joint vote in each legislature. So, 
also, it has provided, by a series of acts from 1842 to 
1876, that representatives shall be elected by districts 
in each State, one by the voters in each district, instead 
of all being elected on one ticket by the State at large, 
as was formerly done ; and that the election shall be by 
ballot, and not by a viva voce vote, as was formerly the 
case in some of the States ; and, unless the constitution 
of a State fixes a different time of electing the repre- 
sentatives, that they shall be chosen in each State on 
the Tuesday next after the first Mondaj^ in November. 
The States are still allowed to elect by a majority or 
a plurality vote ; but the latter mode is the prevailing 
one. 

The above changes in the mode of electing senators 
and representatives for Congress are instances of the 
exercise of the power here given to Congress to con- 
trol the States in this matter. These officers of the 
general government are to be chosen by the States 
as constituent parts of the Union, but in such manner 
as Congress may prescribe. The voters, to be sure, 
are citizens of the different States, and vote under the 
laws of the State, hut only as tJiose laws conform to the 
laws of Congress. Their votes are really directed by 
the laws of Congress, and are of no avail unless they are 
cast in conformity to those laws ; and, voting according 



46 Constitution of the United States, 

to national laws and for national officers, they are really 
national voters. Votes for national representatives, 
surel}^, are national votes, and as such should be sub- 
ject to supervision by national authority, as is x^rovided 
for in the law for national supervisors of such elections. 

[Clause 2.] "The Congress shall assemble at least 
once in every year, and such meeting shall be on the 
first Monday in December, unless they shall by law 
appoint a different day." 

Congress, then, must assemble at least once every 
year, and may meet oftener if they so enact ; and special 
sessions maybe called by the President (Art. II., Sect. 
3) . The regular annual meeting must be on the first 
Monday of December, unless, by a legislative act, 
they appoint a different da}^, which they have often 
done. Since the establishment of the seat of govern- 
ment at Washington in the year 1800, the regularly 
appointed place for their meeting is at the National 
Capitol in Washington ; but, in the case of an epidemic 
there, it is provided that the President may by proc- 
lamation convene Congress at another place. 

In England Parliament assembles at the call of the 
King, and at such times as he designates ; which, how- 
ever, must be as often as once in three years after each 
dissolution of the body. Each Parliament continues 
in existence seven years, unless sooner dissolved by 
the sovereign, but does not usually sit continuously 
during this time. 



Senate and House of Representatives Conjointly. 47 

SECTION 5. 
[Clause 1.] " Each house shall be the judge of the 
elections, returns, and qualifications of its own mem- 
bers, and a majority of each shall constitute a quorum 
to do business ; but a smaller number may adjourn 
from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the 
attendance of absent members in such manner and 
under such penalties as each house may provide." 

While the senators and representatives for Congress 
are chosen by the States, each house determines who 
are actually elected and qualified to serve in it. Their 
election must be duly certified to b}^ the Executive of 
their State, and be capable of being established as a 
hona-fide choice, uninfluenced by corrupt practices. 
As to other qualifications, they must be loyal citizens, 
qualified for the office according to the requirements 
of State and United States' Constitutions and laws. 
Their strictly personal qualifications, whether physical, 
intellectual, or moral, are left to the judgment of the 
constituencies which choose them, though they may be 
expelled from Congress, if unworthy of their place, 
after they become members (see next clause) . 

Contested elections usually turn on the number and 
legality of the votes thrown for the candidates proposed 
and voted for by the different parties ; and Congress 
has provided a method for settling these contests when 
they occur in eitherr house. In England contested 
elections in the House of Commons are now decided 
by jury courts, but till quite recentl}" were decided and 
settled by an election committee of thirteen (see May's 



48 Constitution of the United States. 

*' Constitutional History," vol. 1, p. 291). With us, 
also, the committee on elections investigate and report 
on such contests ; but the house itself finally decides 
the case. 

While no bill can be passed in either house of Con- 
gress, unless a majority of its members (i.e., a majority 
of those actually sworn in) are present, and respond 
yea or nay on the vote, a smaller number is authorized 
to adjourn from da}'- to daj, and compel the attendance 
of absentees till a quorum is obtained. When members 
are absent from either house at the calling of the roll, 
without leave or excuse on account of sickness or 
inability to attend, the rules authorize those present, 
if fifteen in number including the Speaker, to require 
the sergeant-at-arms to have them arrested and brought 
to the house. 

[Clause 2.] "Each house may determine the rules 
of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderly 
behavior, and, with the concurrence of two- thirds, 
expel a member." 

The rules of proceedings established by the houses 
of Congress may be found in Parliamentary Manuals 
in general use. The "disorderly" conduct here re- 
ferred to would include, of course, disturbance of the 
order of the house, breach of its privileges, contempt, 
and the like. It has also been applied to seditious, 
disloyal, and disgraceful conduct in members, whether 
in actual attendance in Congress or away on excuse or 
during recess. Indeed, the power to expel is only 
limited by requiring a two-thirds majority. 



Senate and House of Representatives Conjointly, 49 

Congress, of course, like all deKberative bodies, has, 
by the common law, power to punish persons not mem- 
bers of their body for disturbance, breach of privilege, 
and the like. And, when such punishment is imprison- 
ment, it terminates with the session of Congress, or of 
the committee, when it is that alone to which the con- 
tempt is offered. 

[Clause 3.] "Each house shall keep a journal of 
its proceedings, and from time to time pubhsh the 
same, excepting such parts as may in their judgment 
require secrecy ; and the yeas and nays of the members 
of either house on any question shall, at the desire 
of one-fifth of those present, be entered on the journal." 

The journal of a dehberative body is a written account 
of all its acts and votes. This is kept in the House of 
Representatives by the clerk, and in the Senate by its 
secretary. These proceedings, except at " Executive 
sessions," in which treaties, appointments to office, or 
other confidential matters, are considered, are regularly 
published from year to year ; while the proceedings at 
these secret sessions, from which the secrec}' has not 
been removed, are retained in their manuscript form. 

The yeas and naj^s are to be entered on the journal 
when called for, that it may be seen how each one voted 
on certain important or crucial questions. The impor- 
tance of such record for wholesome legislation is full}' 
estabhshed (see May's " Constitutional History of Eng- 
land," vol. 1, p. 406). But in a large body it takes 
considerable tune to call and record the votes, and is 



50 Constitution of the United States. 

often resorted to as a " dilatory measure " by the mi- 
norit}' in order to embarrass and delay action on a bill 
before the house : hence it is here provided that the yeas 
and nays shall not be recorded^ except at the demand of 
at least one-fifth of the members present. When not 
thus called for, the presiding officer decides the result 
of the yeas and nays by the ear, or by the checked list 
of the clerk ; or, in doubtful cases, the members may 
be counted on a rising vote, or in passing between 
tellers appointed for the purpose. 

[Clause 4.] "Neither house, during the session of 
Congress, shall, without the consent of the other, ad- 
journ for more than three days, nor to any other place 
than that in which the two houses shall be sitting." 

The design of this clause is obvious, which is to 
prevent delay and inconvenience in legislation. As no 
bill can be passed without the concurrence of both 
houses, it is essential that each house should be able 
to prevent any long absence of the other. They may 
not, therefore, adjourn permanent^ or for any consid- 
erable time by separate action. Congress can adjourn 
onl;^y the concurrent action of both houses, although 
it is regularly dissolved by the expiration of its term, 
at the close of the third day of March in every odd 
year, or at noon of the fourth, as the practice now is. 
In England, however, the King can adjourn ("pro- 
rogue") or dissolve Parliament at his will; and in 
France the President of the Republic may dissolve the 
Chamber of Deputies with the assent of the Senate, 



Senate and House of Representatives Conjointly. 51 

and order a new election, which must be within three 
months after the dissolution. 

SECTION 6. 

[Clause 1.] "The senators and representatives 
shaU receive a compensation for their services, to be 
ascertained by law, and paid out of the treasury of the 
United States. They shall in all cases, except treason, 
felony, and breach of the peace, be privileged from 
arrest during their attendance at the session of their 
respective houses, and in going to and returning from 
the same ; and for any speech or debate in either 
house they shall not be questioned in any other 
place." 

The present pay of members of both the Senate 
and House of Representatives is established by law 
("ascertained by law") at five thousand dollars a 
year, and mileage at the rate of twenty cents a mile 
in going to and returning from the seat of government. 
The pay of the Speaker of the house is eight thousand 
dollars a year. Till 1856 the pay of members was by 
the day, — at first six dollars, and then eight dollars 
per day, while in attendance at Washington, with the 
same pay for each day's travel in going to and return- 
ing from the place. Under the Articles of Confed- 
eration, the States paid the expenses of their own 
delegates, — some States more, and some less, — 
whereas now all members are paid equally, and from 
the national treasury. 



62 Constitution of the United States. 

In England members of Parliament receive no com- 
pensation for their services, which has a tendency to 
exclude from Parliament all except men of means or 
the aristocratic classes. But the Speaker of the House 
of Commons receives a salary of twenty-fom* thousand 
two hundred dollars a year. 

Paj^ment for the salaries and mileage of members of 
the House of Representatives is made monthly through 
the sergeant-at-arms ; and that for the members of the 
Senate, through the secretary of the Senate, — both of 
whom are required to give bonds for the faithful appli- 
cation of the money which passes through their hands. 

That Congress maj^ not be unnecessarilj^ deprived of 
the services of its members, it is here provided that, 
except in cases of treason, disturbance of the public 
peace, and the capital or penitentiary crimes implied in 
felony, they shall not be subject to arrest and detention 
for trial whether actually present in Congress, or on 
their wa}^ to and from the same. And, that ihey may 
have perfect freedom and fearlessness in debate, they 
are secured against all liabilities and penalties for 
words uttered in their respective houses. 

And, as the debates in Congress are reported and 
pubhshed at its expense and b}^ its authorit}^, this 
shields members also from liabilit}^ for any thing which 
ma}^ be deemed libellous in their printed speeches. 
Indeed, as members of Congress are not commissioned 
officers under the general government, but the ultimate 
controlling power in that government, they cannot, 
as members^ be punished under its laws, not even 
by impeachment (Art. II., Sect. 4). They may be 
expelled (Sect. 5, 2) by the action of the house to 



Senate and House of Representatives Conjointly. 53 

which they belong, and their constituents may give 
them leave to stay at home. 

[Clause 2.] " No senator or representative shall, 
during the time for which he was elected, be appointed 
to an}^ civil office under the authorit}" of the United 
States, which shall have been created, or the emolu- 
ments whereof shall have been increased during such 
time ; and no person holding any office under the 
United States shall be a member of either house 
during his continuance in office." 

The effect of the first part of this clause is to ex- 
clude senators and representatives from new offices 
created b}" them, or old offices whose emoluments have 
been increased b} tneir action ; and hence to discourage 
the multiplication of offices "and Ae increase of their 
emoluments from personal considerations. A friend or 
relative, however, ma}^ be appointed to such an office, 
and the senator or representative himself ma}^ be 
appointed to it after the expiration of his term. It 
will be observed that the exclusion is confined to civil 
offices, since military offices often require to be filled 
immediatel}', and a senator or representative may be 
the best possible appointee to such an office. 

B}'- the last part of the clause, all officers of the 
United States are excluded from Congress while actu- 
all}' holding their office ; so that, if elected to Congress 
dining their incumbency, the}^ must resign the office 
before taking their seat in that bod3\ This is to pre- 
vent their being biassed as legislators by their office 



54 Constitution of the United States, 

under the government, just as senators and represen- 
tatives, by an act of Congress (April 21, 1808), are 
prohibited from holding or enjoying any contract under 
the United States, or any agreement with an officer 
of the United States. In our own government the legis- 
lative department is carefully protected from undue 
influence by the other departments. 



DIVISION IV. 
LEGISLATIVE POWERS OF CONGRESS. 

SECTION 7. 
[Clause 1.] "All bills for raising revenue shall 
originate in the House of Representatives ; but the 
Senate may propose or concur with amendments, as on 
other bills." 

Bills for raising revenue include the deficiency bills, 
and the eleven regular appropriation bills annually 
passed by Congress, but not necessarily such as only 
incidentally increase the revenue. Such bills must 
originate in the House of Representatives, as this 
house more immediately represents the people, and 
better understands their wants and resources. Hence 
the}^ are strenuous in maintaining the right of originat- 
ing such bills, as the English House of Commons 
always have been, not allowing the House of Lords to 
change or amend them in the least. Our Senate, how- 
ever, being an elective body, representing the States, 
and not, like the House of Lords, hereditary and aris- 



Legislative Powers of Congress. 55 

tocratic in its constitution, is very properly allowed to 
propose and concur in amendments to such bills, 
though it may not originate them in the first instance. 

[Clause 2.] "Every bill which shall have passed the 
House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before 
it become a law, be presented to the President of the 
United States : if he approve, he shall sign it ; but, if 
not, he shall return it, with his objections, to that 
house in which it shall have origirfated, who shall 
enter the objections at large on their journal, and pro- 
ceed to reconsider it. If, after such reconsideration, 
two-thirds of that house shall agree to pass the bill, it 
shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other 
house, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and, 
if approved by two-thirds of that house, it shall be- 
come a law. But in all such cases the votes of both 
houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the 
names of the persons voting for and against the bill 
shall be entered on the journal of each house respec- 
tively. If any bill shall not be returned by the Presi- 
dent within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall 
have been presented to him, the same shall be a law, 
in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Con- 
gress by their adjournment prevent its return, in which 
case it shall not be a law." 

This clause requires that every biU before Congress,, 
before it becomes a law, shall be presented to the 



56 Constitution of the United States. 

President and signed by him, or returned within ten 
days, with his objections, to the house in which it 
originated. In which latter case it can become law 
only upon reconsideration and being repassed by a 
two-thirds vote in each house, expressed in 3'eas and 
nsijs, and entered upon their respective journals ; the 
two-thirds vote required being evidently two-thirds of 
those present merely, provided there be a quorum. 

By the rules, bills introduced into either house by a 
committee, as most bills are, are presented in printed 
form, and after two readings, at the second of which 
all discussions of their merits usually occur, may either 
be committed to some committee for further considera- 
tion, or at once be read the third time and passed to 
be engrossed; i.e., copied on paper in a fair round 
hand. So, also, bills introduced by individuals, on 
leave, are referred to a committee after the second 
reading, and reported back in a printed form, read a 
third time, and passed as in the previous case. 

After a bill has passed both houses, it is enrolled on 
parchment, according to the engrossed form, and, be- 
fore it is presented to the President, is signed by the 
Speaker of the House of Representatives and the 
President of the Senate, and an indorsement made on 
it (for the information of the President), stating 
whether it originated in the Senate or the House of 
Representatives . 

In England the refusal of the King to sign a bill 
(called a veto) is absolute, preventing the passage of 
the law ; while with us it merely dela3^s its passage till 
it is further considered, and a two-thirds majority of 
both houses in its favor obtained. And, that the re- 



Legislative Powers of Congress. 57 

consideration may be intelligent and deliberate, it is 
required that the objections of the President to the 
bill shall be entered in full upon their journals, and 
also the yeas and naj^-s of the members. At the same 
time, the President must return the bill to the house 
in which it originated within ten days, or it becomes 
a law without his signature. The veto power has 
proved a ver}^ useful power, and has been used by 
nearly every President. 

[Clause 3.] "Every order, resolution, or vote to 
which the concurrence of the Senate and House of 
Representatives may be necessary (except on a ques- 
tion of adjournment) , shall be presented to the Presi- 
dent of the United States, and, before the same shall 
take effect, shall be approved by him ; or, being disap- 
proved by him, shall be repassed by two-thirds of the 
Senate and House of Representatives, according to the 
rules and limitations prescribed in the case of a bill." 

This clause is designed to prevent Congress from 
passing laws in the form of orders, resolutions, or 
votes, without the signature of the President. But 
resolutions proposing amendments of the Constitution 
to the legislatures of the States, or regulating proceed- 
ings between the two houses, or with the Executive, 
are not presented to the President, as they are not laws 
of the land, and concern the people or Congress alone. 
But a joint resolution, order, or vote, approved by 
the President, or passed by a two-thirds vote of both 
houses without his approval, has all the force of a law. 



68 Constitution of the United States. 

SECTION 8. 
[Clause 1.] " The Congress shall have power — To 
lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to 
pay the debts, and provide for the common defence 
and general welfare of the United States ; but all 
duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform through- 
out the United States." 

This eighth section, of which this is the first clause, 
enumerates the independent powers ("all legislative 
powers herein granted ") of Congress as the legislative 
branch of the general government over the States. In 
the clause here quoted there seems to be but a single 
power granted, — viz., the taxing power, — and this 
in order to raise a revenue for pacing the debts of the 
general government, and providing for the defence and 
welfare of the people of the different States in their 
general and national relations. This is the exclusive 
right and duty of Congress. The ordinary local de- 
fence and welfare of the people are to be provided 
for by the States, including the revenue necessary for 
these purposes, which must come from State resources, 
that are not covered hy the grants to Congress. 

The interpretation which makes the paying of the 
debts, &c., an independent power, and not the end or 
purpose for which the taxing power is granted, is 
plainly incorrect. In the first place, it is not properly 
a power, — a legislative power, — but a duty^ and one 
naturally incident to the power of making provision 
for payment by taxation. And then, if the paying of 
debts, &c., do not express \h.Q purpose for which taxes 



Legislative Powers of Congress, 59 

are to be laid and collected, the taxing power of the 
general government is left without a limit ; and the 
power to provide for the common defence and general 
welfare also, instead of being confined to the use for 
these purposes of the means derived from taxation, 
ma}^ be exerted in all waj's, and to any extent thought 
to be desirable ; thus leaving the whole matter of taxa- 
tion, and of providing for the general welfare of the 
people (which might be pursued to the extent of what 
is reall}' local) , in the power of the general government 
of the United States. This seems inconsistent with 
the general scope of the Constitution. It was evi- 
dently designed that local affairs should be left to the 
States, except such as are inconsistent with higher 
national interests. 

"Taxes, duties, imposts, and excises" embrace 
every species of taxation, — direct and indirect, spe- 
cific and ad valorem, taxes on polls, on property, on 
income, on manufactures, on business, on licenses, on 
imports, on tonnage, and every kind of levy for raising 
a revenue. The United States may resort to au}^ 
species of taxation to maintain the national interests 
committed to them, but depends chiefly for revenue on 
duties on merchandise imported from abroad ; for se- 
curing which, collection districts and ports of entry 
are established at various points, under the direction 
of the Secretar}^ of the Treasury at Washington, and 
presided over each by a collector with subordinate 
ofiQcers, to determine and receive the duties. 

The statement in the last part of the clause, that 
all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform 
throughout the United States, makes the whole country 



60 Constitution of the United States. 

the field for a uniform system of national taxation to 
sustain the general government in carrying out the 
purposes for which it was established. This national 
taxation, being thus distributed among all the States, 
leaves them resources enough untouched to meet their 
own government expenses. 

Under the Confederation, the expenses incurred for 
the common defence and general welfare were to be 
supplied by the several States, and Congress could 
merely make requisitions upon them, each for its pro- 
portion, leaving it to their honor to pay it or not. 
This clause, however, gives Congress the power of 
imposing taxes directly upon the property", business, 
and imports of the citizens of the several States, for 
these expenses, and of collecting them in their own wa}'. 
And here we see, again, that the object of the clause 
was, by granting an independent power of taxation to 
the general government, to furnish it with the means 
of providing for the common defence, and promoting 
the common welfare, which were wanting under the 
Confederation. 

Direct taxes, however, by a previous clause (Sect. 
2,3), are to be levied on States according to their 
representative population, which was to favor the slave 
States, since only three-fifths of the slaves were to be 
counted in for representative purposes. But this is of 
no avail now that slavery is abolished. 

[Clause 2.] "To borrow mone}^ on the credit of the 
United States." 

As taxes might not be suflScient to pay all the ex- 



Legislative Powers of Congress, 61 

penses in time of war, or at otlier important crises, it 
was necessary that Congress should possess this power. 
It should be exercised, however, only on such supreme 
occasions. A government having the jpower of raising 
money by taxation should generally pay as it goes. 
Congress had occasion to exercise this power largely 
during our late civil war, both by the indu-ect method 
of issuing greenbacks or treasury notes, and the direct 
method of selling bonds. The bonds of the United 
States (amounting March, 1878, to $1,741,782,500) 
cannot be taxed by State authority, as this would put 
them at the mercy of the States, and render the grant 
any thing but an independent one. The same is true 
of the greenbacks and the other securities of the gen- 
eral government. 

[Clause 3.] "To regulate commerce with foreign 
nations, and among the scA^eral States, and with the 
Indian tribes." 

Commerce includes not only trade and traffic, but 
every species ot intercourse, whether in person or by 
navigation or other means of transportation. To regu- 
late our commerce is to prescribe the rule or laws by 
which this traffic and inter com'se are to be governed. 
And Congress has exercised the power in designating 
ports of entry and deliver}^ ; in passing laws in regard to 
embargoes, quarantine, pilotage, wrecks, light-houses, 
buoy's, beacons, inroads of the ocean, obstructions in 
baj's, sounds, rivers, creeks, and other internal im- 
provements of national or inter-state importance ; also 
in regard to the coasting trade, fisheries, navigation, 



62 Constitution of the United States. 

seamen, the protection of citizens in foreign countries, 
the privileges of American and foreign ships, and other 
kindred subj ects . ^ 

One important regulation of commerce is in relation 
to the registry of vessels in the office of the collector 
of the district to which they belong. This is essential 
to their enjoying the privileges and benefits of vessels 
of the United States, unless engaged in the coasting 
trade, when it is merely necessary for a vessel to be 
enrolled and licensed. A vessel entitled to registry or 
license must be home-built, owned by citizens of the 
United States, and commanded by an American citizen. 

Under the Confederation commerce was in a deplora- 
ble condition from the want of power in Congress to 
enforce upon the States the observance of treaties with 
foreign nations, as well as common commercial regu- 
lations among themselves. Each State made its own 
commercial regulations, which natural^ conflicted with 
each other, and were often retaliatory in their nature, 
so as almost wholly to destroy commerce and inter- 
course. This state of things was one of the chief mo- 
tives for estabhshing the Union under the Constitution, 
which now has the exclusive regulation of the whole 
matter, as between the States and with foreign nations ; 
so that all State regulations touching the subject are 
null and void bej^ond the bounds and the internal 
waters of their respective States. States cannot grant 
any special navigation privileges in waters accessible 
to vessels licensed or registered b3" the United States. 
In commerce, as in other general interests, the country 
under the Constitution is one, and Congress is to see 

1 See Failar's Manual, p. 328. 



Legislative Powers of Congress. 63 

that there are no prohibitory or restrictive commercial 
laws between the States. 

[Clause 4.] "To estabhsh an uniform rule of natu- 
ralization, and uniform laws on the subject of bank- 
ruptcies throughout the United States." 

The rule for naturalization established by Congress 
is, that a foreigner, in order to be admitted to citizen- 
ship by naturalization, must have resided at least five 
years in the United States and one year in the State or 
territory where he is naturalized, and must, at least two 
years before his naturalization, have made a declaration 
before some court of his purpose to become a citizen 
of the United States. The wives and minor children 
of natm-ahzed citizens are regarded as naturalized. 
The rule, being required to be uniform, excludes all 
State action on the subject. 

But Congress, by resolutions or by treaty, has often 
incorporated foreign territory with its inhabitants, 
declaring such to be citizens of the United States 
without the formalities of individual naturalization. 
Aliens naturalized in our country are absolved from 
allegiance to then* former governments, and, even when 
not naturalized, have in most of the States the common 
rights of citizens, except the right to vote and hold 
oflSce. 

Bankruptcy being admitted and declared insolvency, 
bankrupt laws declare when and on what conditions 
the insolvent debtor shall be released by his creditors. 
And, as all the laws of Congress are supreme through- 
out the countr}^, they become exclusive when enforced, 



64 Constitution of the United States. 

as any of them will be where State laws necessarily 
conflict with them. State bankrupt or insolvent laws-, 
however, of a limited character are allowable as rules 
for settling debts between citizens of the same State, or 
such as are due in that State. They do not affect debts 
due out of the State, nor those contracted before their 
passage ; since States cannot pass laws which will 
cr^Dcrate in other States, nor those impairing the obliga- 
tion of contracts, which bankrupt laws, acting upon 
debts contracted before their passage, necessarily do. 
Our late national bankrupt law required, that, unless 
the debtor could pay fifty per cent of his debts, he 
should not be discharged without the consent of a 
majority in number and A^alue of his creditors. 

[Clause 5.] "To coin money, regulate the value 
thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of 
weights and measures." 

To " coin money " is to fashion and stamp pieces of 
metal in convenient form for use in trade ; and, being 
the standard money for the nation, it can be issued 
only by the general government. The value of differ- 
ent designations of coined money, whether our own or 
foreign, is fixed by act of Congress from time to time, 
and, in case of our own, is stamped on the pieces. 
Most of our metallic money is coined at the mints in 
Philadelphia and San Francisco. 

It does not follow, however, that Congress cannot 
prepare and stamp paper money as of a certain nominal 
value, thus borrowing money indirectly (Clause 2) ; for 
the Constitution, in prohibiting States (Sect. 10, 1) 



Legislative Powers of Congress. Qb 

from making any thing but gold and silver coin a legal 
tender for debts, implies (though the Constitutional 
Convention wisely declined expressly to give them the 
power) that Congress may do so. The very existence 
of the government may depend upon this being done, 
as is generallj' thought to have been the case in our late 
civil war ; and this alone, in the opinion of the Supreme 
Court, justified the issue of the greenbacks, which, now 
that the war has closed, should be redeemed and retired. 
The amount of greenbacks now out (August, 1878) is 
$34G,681,016 ; and of national currency, $322,000,000. 
Congress has not legislated upon the subject of weights 
and measures, but allowed them to remain as the}" were 
at the time of the Revolution, or as they have been 
regulated b}^ the different States : the}^ are generally 
the same with us as in England. B3' an act of Con- 
gress in 1866, however, the use of the metric sj^stem 
of weights and measures is authorized, but not estab- 
lished. 

[Clause 6.] "To provide for the punishment of 
counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the 
United States." 

" Securities and current coin of the United States " 
include every form of pecuniary obligation issued by 
the general government. These being issued solelj^ by 
Congress, Congress can provide for punishing the coun- 
terfeiting of them, but not of such securities as may 
be lawfully issued on the authority of the different 
States; These are under the protection of the State 
issuing them. But no State can issue current coin ; 



66 Constitution of the United States. 

and all are required to use those coined, or at least 
sanctioned, by the United States for paying debts 
(Sect. 10, 1). 

[Clause 7.] "To establish post-offices and post- 
roads." 

Under this clause Congress has not only created the 
vast system of post-offices and post-roads throughout 
the country, but taken charge of the whole business of 
transporting the mails, providing a vast army of officers, 
agents, contractors, and employees, from the postmas- 
ter-general down to the deputy-postmaster of the small- 
est country village ; involving an annual expense of 
twenty or thirt}^ millions of dollars. As Congress is 
to establish post-offices and post-roads, it has assumed 
the whole responsibility and control of the business, 
inflicting punishments for robberies of the mail, exclud- 
ing States from all participation in the matter, and per- 
mitting individuals or private companies to carry over 
mail routes only such unimportant and less risky por- 
tions of mail matter as books, newspapers, magazines, 
periodicals, and the like. 

Postal matters being of a national nature, and tran- 
scending all State limits, properlj^ belong wholly to the 
general government. Under the Confederation, Con- 
gress could merely determine the connecting points in 
mail routes at the line between States. 

Of the forty thousand or more deputy-postmasters 
in the United States, those in the more important 
places are appointed by the President (i.e., about one 
in thirty) with the advice and consent of the Senate, 



Legislative Poivers of Congress. 67 

while the less important ones (those receiving less than 
a thousand dollars a j^ear) are appointed by the post- 
master-general. B}^ a law of 1864 the}^ are divided 
into five classes : those of the first class receiving from 
three thousand to four thousand dollars a year (except 
the postmaster in the city of New York, who now 
receives eight thousand dollars) ; those of the second, 
from two thousand to three thousand dollars ; those of 
the third, from one thousand to two thousand dollars ; 
those of the fourth, from a hundred to a thousand 
dollars ; and those of the fifth, less than a hundred 
dollars. Letters are delivered b}" carriers free of charge 
in cities with over twent}^ thousand inhabitants, and 
postal money-orders are issued in offices where there is 
any considerable business. 

Congress has not actually made post-roads, except 
in a very few instances in the early history of the 
country, but has generally designated and established 
as post-roads certain roads or routes already in exist- 
ence and use, including canals, railroads, and steam- 
boat routes. 

[Clause 8.] ''To promote the progress of science 
and useful arts by securing for limited times to authors 
and inventors the exclusive right to their respective 
writings and discoveries.''* 

It is under this clause that copjrrights for books, 
maps, charts, engravings, &c., are issued in the United 
States, which secure to their authors the exclusive 
right to print, pubhsh, and sell theii' works for twenty- 
eight years, with the privilege of renewing the copy- 



68 Constitution of the United States. 

right for fourteen years. And, in like manner, letters 
patent are issued under this clause to inventors, which 
give them, for the term of seventeen years, the exclu- 
sive right of making, using, and selling the invention 
or discover}^ made. And at the end of the seventeen 
3'ears, if the invention be a useful one, and has not 
proved reasonably remunerative, it may be renewed 
for seven years longer. To be effective, such copy and 
patent rights must be good throughout the country, 
and hence are to be issued by the general government 
alone. 

To secure a copyright, it is necessary for the author, 
before the publication of his work, to deposit a printed 
copy of its title in the office of the Librarian of Con- 
gress at Washington, and also to deposit with him two 
copies of the book itself within three months after it 
is published. And an inventor, to obtain a patent, 
must submit a description and model of his invention 
to the scrutiny of the Commissioner and his examiners 
at the Patent Office, and obtain their confirmation of 
its originality. He must also pay the fee required for 
the letters patent, which are signed b}' the Commis- 
sioner of Patents and the Secretary of the Interior, 
with whose department the Patent Office is connected. 

[Clause 9.] "To constitute tribunals inferior to the 
Supreme Court." 

The Supreme Court is established by the Constitution 
(Art. III., 1) ; and this clause gives Congress the 
power to establish such inferior courts as the judicial 
department of the general government may require. 



Legislative Powers of Congress. 69 

This it has done by estabhshing a system of circuit 
courts, and district courts, and a court of claims, 
and defining the jurisdiction of each (see Art. III., 
Sect. 1)." 

[Clause 10.] "To define and punish piracies and 
felonies committed on the high seas, and offences 
against the law of nations." 

Piracy, by the common law, or the law of nations, 
which is a part of the common law, is robbery on the 
waters of the ocean, or of the sea-coast outside of 
low-water mark. But Congress, having the power of 
defining it for itself as applicable to citizens of tile 
United States, is not necessarily restricted to this 
definition ; and in the various acts passed on the sub- 
ject, while it has in general conformed to it, it has, on 
the whole, considerably enlarged the scope of the 
ofi'ence. If, howcA^er, any acts are made piracy b}^ the 
laws of Congress which do not amount to that crime 
by the law of nations, they can be punished as such 
only by our courts, and when committed b}' a citizen 
of the United States. So, also, a piratical act com- 
mitted on board a vessel belonging to another nation, 
or Tsithin its municipal jurisdiction, can be punished 
only by the laws of that nation. But j^irates, within 
the scope of the law of nations, being regarded as 
enemies of the human race, may be attacked and 
destroyed by any one, wherever met on the high seas. 

"• Felony," sa3's Blackstone, " is an ofi'ence which 
occasions a total forfeiture of lands or goods, or both, 
at the common law, and to which capital or otlier 



70 Constitution of the United States. 

punishment may be superadded, according to the de- 
gree of guilt." In general, felony embraces all crimes 
below treason. Congress has not, as far as I am 
aware, undertaken to define felonj^ ; but, as forfeiture 
is not recognized with us as a punishment for crime, 
felony may be defined as a crime punishable with death 
or imprisonment. Such an offence, of course, may be 
committed on the land or on the sea ; but Congress is 
authorized to fix a specific meaning to it only in the 
latter case. 

" The law of nations," says Wheaton, " may be de- 
fined as consisting of those rules of conduct which 
reason deduces as consonant to justice from the na- 
ture of the society existing among independent nations, 
with such modifications and deviations as may be 
established by common consent." It thus embraces 
the principles of justice and usage commonlj^ recog- 
nized and approved hy nations in their intercourse 
with each other, whether in peace or in war. Offences 
against these laws are such as infringements by one 
nation on the territory or the rights of the citizens of 
another nation at peace with them, violations of pass- 
ports, disregard of treaties, pirac}^, and the like. 

[Clause 11.] "To declare war, grant letters of 
marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning cap- 
tures on land and water." 

This and the five following clauses (11-16) describe 
what have been called the " war powers of Congress." 
It is not necessary' to a state of war with another 
people that Congress should formally make a declara- 



Legislative Poivers of Congress. 71 

tion of war with them : it is enough if they recognize 
a state of war, or authorize warhke acts, which may 
be done b}^ resisting hostile demonstrations and en- 
croachments, as in the case of the war with Mexico 
in 1846, and also in our late civil war. 

A state of war dissolves all amicable, business, and 
commercial relations between the parties to it, and 
authorizes all hostile measures to cripple the resources, 
thwart the plans, and subdue the power, of each other. 
The law of nations, however, does not tolerate unne- 
cessary interference with private, peaceable pursuits, 
much less crueltj^ and barbarities in warfare. And 
that "free ships make free goods," if not contraband 
of war, and even when enemies' goods, is becoming 
established as a principle of international law. 

' ' A declaration of war is essentially a declaration 
of martial law, — a substitution of war, the rights of 
war, and the laws of war, for peace, the rights and 
laws of peace ; the one co-extensive with the other. 
It is not intended to be less a sj^stem of right and 
justice, or to exclude or supersede the ordinary" admin- 
istration of it, except so far as that may fail or be 
inadequate, or its processes come in competition with, 
or impede the successful accomplishment of, the para- 
mount objects of the war." — Fakrak. 

Under the Confederation, Congress, with the consent 
of nine States, could declare war. In England the 
sovereign declares war, and makes peace. 

Issuing " letters of marque and reprisal" is a hos- 
tile act somewhat less formal and belligerent in its 
nature than a declaration of war. Such letters au- 
thorize private citizens to whom they are granted to 



72 Constitution of the United States. 

proceed to the territory of a foreign State, and seize 
public or private property by way of reprisal for in- 
juries done by such State or its citizens, for which 
satisfaction has been refused. Such a summary act 
may bring a nation to its senses, so that it may make 
the reparation required, without the necessity of a 
regular war. 

By the law of nations all the propertj^ of the two 
countries at war with each other, whether on land or 
sea, is subject to capture and confiscation by the adverse 
party as enemies' property; but' a vessel captured at 
sea, before the captors are entitled to it as a prize, 
must be brought into some port of the nation claiming 
it, and be judiciall}^ condemned as such by a prize court, 
which with us is any one of the United States' district 
courts. The rules which Congress have made concern- 
ing captures relate to the process of securing and con- 
demning them as legal prizes, and the proportion of 
the prize which is to go to those making the capture, 
and that which is to go to the government. 

[Clause 12.] "To raise and support armies; but 
no appropriation of mone}^ to that use shall be for a 
longer term than two years." 

This clause gives the Congress of the United States 
power to raise armies directly from the people at large, 
or otherwise, instead of merely making requisitions 
upon the several States for their quota, to be furnished 
in their own way and at their own discretion, as was 
required by the Articles of Confederation. Such a 
power is absolutely necessary in every independent gov- 



Legislative Powers of Congress. 73 

ernment. War requires armies ; and armies can be 
raised only by authority, not bj" moral suasion, as was 
so often found out b}' the government, to its sorrow, 
during the revolutionary contest, and under the Confed- 
eration. 

There is nothing in the Constitution which limits 
Congi^ess to any particular mode of raising armies, 
whether by draft, conscription, or voluntarj^ enlistment, 
though the latter has been the method pursued, except 
during our late civil war. But, however raised, appro- 
priations for their pay and support cannot be made by 
Congress for a longer period than two years ; so that no 
permanent standing army can be maintained against 
the will of the people as represented in Congress. In 
fact, appropriations for the army, as for other expenses 
of the government, are voted every year. 

[Clause 13.] " To provide and maintain a navy." 

Navies, especially in commercial nations like ours, 
are as necessary for protection and defence as armies. 
Our nav3", beginning in 1798 with the three frigates 
(of national fame) " The Constitution," " The United 
States," and "The Constellation," has grown, especial- 
Xj during our late civil war, so as to become a formidable 
power (consisting of nearly a hundred vessels) . Appro- 
priations, of course, are made annually for the support 
of the naAy, as well as for that of the army ; and from 
time to time special appropriations are made for its 
benefit, from which — in connection with the percentage 
of the wages of all seamen emploj^ed in both the naval 
and the merchant ser^^ce, which the masters of vessels 
are required, by the laws of Congress, to reserve and 



74 Constitution of the United States. 

pay over to the collectors of the districts to which they 
belong — marine hospitals and asylums have been es- 
tablished for the comfort and support of disabled offi- 
cers and seamen of both kinds of service. 

[Clause 14.] "To make rules for the government 
and regulation of the land apd naval forces." 

Such rules and regulations are necessary in order to 
secure the obedience, the order, and the efficiency of 
these forces. The rules and regulations established by 
Congress are administered under the direction of the 
President as commander-in-chief, and the Secretaries 
of War and of the Navy, in the ordering and governing 
of the army and navy. 

[Clause 15.] "To provide for calling forth the mili- 
tia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrec- 
tions, and repel invasions." 

In accordance with this clause, Congress has author- 
ized the President to call forth the militia (i.e., the 
military forces organized and supported b}^ the several 
States) for the purposes here named, leaving him to 
judge, in each case, of the necessity for such action. 
And it has been more usual for him to call upon the 
several States for their proportions of the soldiers in 
an unorganized condition ; the organization into regi- 
ments, brigades, divisions, &c., being effected as they 
are mustered into the United States' service, in which 
service, according to the next clause, the militia are to 
be under the government of Congress, with officers, of 
course, appointed or approved by them. 



Legislative Poioers of Congress. 75 

Resistance to the laws of the Union, insurrections, 
and invasions are all acts of disobedience or hostility 
to the government, and may either of them lead to 
open war, as in the case of our late Rebellion. But, as 
generally this is not likely to be the case, provision is 
here made only for calling out the mihtia in the first 
instance. And, being much relied upon at the time of 
the estabhshment of our government, it was supposed 
that the militia would alwa3's be readj^ enrolled in each 
State, and hence easily mustered into the general ser- 
vice. This species of force, however, has gradually 
come to be less relied upon ; and, since the war with 
Mexico in 1846, the President has been authorized by 
Congress to emplo3M^olunteers for the purposes referred 
to, in addition to the militia, and also such portions 
of the regular army and navy as he may deem neces- 
sary. By the prohibitory act of 1878, the army is not 
allowed to be employed as a posse comitatus in enforcing 
the laws of the United States within a State or Territory. 

[Clause 16.] "To provide for organizing, arming, 
and disciplining the militia, and for governing such 
part of them as ma}' be employed in the service of the 
United States, reserving to the States respectively the 
appointment of the officers, and the authority of train- 
ing the militia according to the discipline prescribed by 
Congress." 

According to this clause Congress is to provide the 
scheme or plan for organizing, arming, disciplining, 
and training the militia of the several States, and to 



76 Constitution of the United States. 

have the actual government of them when in the ser- 
vice of the general government, leaving to the States 
the right of organizing, officering, and training them 
according to that scheme luJien they are not in that ser- 
vice. Tliis is to secure uniformity' in the organization 
and discipline of this species of force, and to bring it 
into harmony in these respects with the regular arm}'. 
The arms, the plan of organization into companies, 
regiments, brigades, &c-, as well as the rules and regu- 
lations for their training and discipline, are the same 
for both kinds of service. 

[Clause 17.] "To exercise exclusive legislation in 
all cases whatsoever over such district (not exceeding 
ten miles square) as may, b}' cession of particular 
States and the acceptance of Congress, become the 
seat of the government of the United vStates, and to 
exercise like authority over all places purchased b}' the 
consent of the legislature of the State in which the 
same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, 
arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buildings." 

This clause gives the general government an actual 
territorial establishment in all parts of the Union, by 
securing for it a central governmental district, and 
sites for forts, dockj^ards, &c., wherever needed, which 
shall be wholly independent of State influence, and 
allow the undisturbed exercise of the powers granted 
to it by the Constitution : hence Congress is to have 
exclusive legislation in the places described, admitting 
the interference of no other legislative authority in 



Legislative Power's of Congress, 77 

*' am'' case whatever." To secure this exclusive con- 
trol the governmental district was to be formally ceded 
to the United States hy the State or States to which 
it belonged (and the District of Columbia was thus 
ceded b}^ Marj^land and Virginia), while the other 
places referred to must be purchased of their owners, 
with the sanction of the legislature of the State. This 
gives the general government absolute authority, and 
no State law or authorit}' whatever can be exercised in 
such places, except on fugitives from justice, when 
reserved b}^ the State at the time of the sale to the 
United States. 

The general government took possession of the 
governmental district at Washington in 1800, and has 
purchased sites in different States for the other pur- 
poses, from time to time, as the}' have been needed. 
For the last ten years prior to 1800, Congress had met 
at Philadelphia, having remained in New York, where 
the government under the Constitution was first organ- 
ized, only two sessions, and where the government of 
the Confederation had been previousl}- located only 
about four years. 

[Clause 18.] " To make all laws which shall be 
necessary and proper for carrying into execution the 
foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this 
Constitution in the government of the United States, 
or in any department or officer thereof." 

To make all the laws which are necessary and proper 
to carr}^ into execution the preceding powers which are 
granted to Congi^ess, is merely to make those powers 



78 Constitution of the United States. 

effective by appropriate legislation on the subjects ex- 
pressly committed to their power. The preceding 
clauses specify the subjects on which Congress is 
authorized to exert its power, and this the means by 
which that power is to be exerted; viz., b}' passing 
laws on those subjects. A power of Congress is simply 
a power to pass laws, and hence this part of the clause 
really adds nothing to the preceding clauses, though 
embracing a very wide scope of action. The laws 
passed by Congress are to be adjudicated by the 
United States' courts, and executed under the author- 
ity of the President. 

So, if any power vested in the government, or in any 
department or officer thereof, requires legislation to 
render it effective, as most of them do, who but Con- 
gress should pass the laws required in the case ? No 
other department of the government has any legislative 
power. The whole of this clause, therefore, is but the 
natural and necessary complement to the general legis- 
lative powers of Congress, and is just as specific and 
definitely guarded as the}" are. But its general terms 
were looked upon with distrust by the States, and with 
the indefinite power of providing for the general good, 
which seemed to be granted in the first clause of this 
section, was the chief reason for 'enacting the first ten 
amendments. 

All the laws of Congress — the whole vast body of 
our national legislation — have been passed in exerting 
its legislative powers as authorized in this clause. The 
national laws on taxation have been passed in exercis- 
ing the power ' ' to lay and collect taxes ; ' ' the commer- 
cial laws, in exercising the power "to regulate com- 



Legislative Powers of Congress. 79 

merce ; '* and thus through the list of the general powers 
granted to Congress. And, in like manner, numerous 
laws have been passed by Congress in regard to the 
executive department of the government and its offi- 
cers, as in regard to the election of the President and 
the duties assigned him in the Constitution ; in regard 
to the heads of departments, the duties and privileges 
of ambassadors and consuls, &c. ; and so, also, in 
regard to the judicial department of the government 
and its judges. 

The Constitution is the organic law from which the 
whole body of our national statute-law has arisen, and 
to which it is necessarily confined. While the three 
general departments of the government — the legisla- 
tive, the executive, and the judicial — are mutually 
independent and of equal authority within their sphere, 
it is obvious that the two latter require the legislative 
aid of the former, as authorized in the latter part of 
the above clause, to estabhsh and maintain them in that 
sphere. The legislative department is necessaril}^ the 
most comprehensive and fundamental of all the depart- 
ments of the government. Ver}^ little governmental 
action in any department is authorized and prescribed 
in detail by the Constitution itself, this being left to 
Congress. The powers granted are to b6 put in action 
through legislation. 



80 Constitution of the United States, 



DIVISION V. 

RESTRICTIONS ON THE POWERS OF CONGRESS 
AND OF THE STATES. 

SECTION 9. 
[Clause 1.] " The migration or importation of such 
persons as any of the States now existing shall think 
proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Con- 
gress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and 
eight ; but a tax or duty may be imposed on such im- 
portation not exceeding ten dollars for each person." 

The restrictions in this section are special limitations 
of the general powers granted to Congress in the pre- 
ceding section. This clause was introduced into the 
Constitution in the interest of slavery. Although the 
language is general, the migration or importation which 
was not to be prohibited by Congress before a certain 
date, was that of slaves. The prohibition to prevent 
such migration, however, it wiU be observed, extended 
only to the States then existing, not to new States. It 
might, therefore, have been prohibited in all new States. 
Soon after the expiration of the time here specified, the 
slave-trade was prohibited under heav}^ penalties, and 
finally declared to be piracy, and punishable with 
death. Without this restriction upon Congress, it 
might have legislated in this matter under the power to 
legislate on commerce between the States. 



Restrictions on Poivers of Congress and States. 81 

[Clause 2.] "The privilege of the writ of habeas 
corpus shall not be suspended, unless when, in cases of 
rebeUion or invasion, the public safety may require it." 

The ' ' privilege ' ' of the writ of habeas corpus is 
the right by common law which in time of peace every 
one has, whose personal liberty is unjustly restrained 
by imprisonment, to be brought before a competent tri- 
bunal, and have his case judicially inquired into, and a 
discharge from such custody granted him, if the deten- 
tion and restraint are shown to be unjust. The 
" writ " is a writing or order from a judge delivered to 
a public officer, authorizing him to take and bring 
before him the body of such a person, that an examina- 
tion into his case may be had. Our courts issue the 
writ freel}' in all such cases where there is a reasona- 
ble probability of unjust restraint. It is an old English 
remed}^ of inestimable value, for encroachments upon 
personal libert}^, which, Blackstone says, was often con- 
sidered as another Magna Charta in that kingdom. 

The privilege or right which all enjoy to this protec- 
tion against the violation of their personal liberty, it 
is here provided, shall not be suspended except when 
the public safety requires it in cases of rebellion or 
invasion. In such cases (as in the late Rebellion of 
the Southern States) , which are incipient war, it is left 
in the discretion of the government to suspend it if 
they deem it necessary for the public safety. The 
declaration of martial law, which is the regular law of 
war, at once suspends this writ, and may even suspend 
the judge who presumes to issue it, as in the case of the 
Louisiana judge who was suspended by Gen. Jackson 
in the war of 1812. 



82 Constitution of the United States. 

And as martial law, under the pressure of necessity', 
ma}^ be temporarily declared by the President or by the 
general in command, as well as by an act of Congress, 
the suspending authority is here left wholly indefinite ; 
but no State authority, of course, can suspend it, as the 
right to make war is reserved wholly to the general 
government. In other cases the general government is 
not to suspend it, nor allow it to be suspended by any 
other authority. This limits, in this particular, the war 
power of legislation granted to Congress : it must not 
be exercised in restraining personal libertj^ be^^ond war 
necessities. 

[Clause 3.] " No bill of attainder or ex post facto 
law shall be passed." 

A " bill of attainder "is of the same nature as an 
ex post facto law. Both alike enact punishments for 
past acts which were unauthorized, either wholly or in 
kind or in degree, by the laws of the land at the time 
of the transaction. A bill of attainder is an act of the 
legislature passed specifically to condemn or attaint 
some one for a past act or conduct, and inflicting upon 
him the punishment of death or confiscation of his 
property, or both, without a trial according to law. 
Such high-handed and summary acts of condemnation 
against political rivals or oflTenders were often passed 
in former times by the British Parliament and by our 
colonial legislatures. By this clause of the Constitu- 
tion they are wholly forbidden under our present general 
government. Congress may provide for punishing gov- 
ernment officials, or those violating its laws or rights, 
but not by laws of this kind. 



Restrictions on Powers of Congress and States, 83 

Ex post facto laws are regarded as laws pertaining 
only to criminal and penal matters, and which make an 
act punishable that was not so b}' the laws when it was 
committed, or punishable more severely, or in a more ig- 
nominious way, or admit less evidence, or a less favor- 
able mode of trial for conviction. Such laws, as well as 
bills of attainder, are forbidden in the Constitution to 
both the national and State legislatures (Sect. 10, 1). 

But * ' retrospective " or " retro-active laws ' ' per- 
taining to civil matters^ and affecting merely past suits, 
controversies, &c., as abolishing imprisonment for debt, 
making deeds valid which have been found to be defec- 
tive, are not prohibited to the general government, nor, 
indeed, to the State governments, unless they violate the 
obligation of contracts. What in England are called 
"bills of pains and penalties " are of the nature of bills 
of attainder, but inflict less severe punishment than that 
of death and confiscation of property. 

[Clause 4.] " No capitation or other direct tax shall 
be laid, unless in proportion to the census or enumera- 
tion hereinbefore directed to be taken." 

For the reason for the provision in this clause, see 
Comments on Sect. 2, 3, and Sect. 8, 1. 

[Clause 5.] " No tax or duty shall be laid on arti- 
cles exported from any State. No preference shall be 
given by any regulation of commerce or revenue to the 
ports of one State over those of another ; nor shall 
vessels bound to or from one State be obliged to enter, 
clear, or pa}' duties in another.*' 



84 Constitution of the United States, 

Congress, it is generally thought, is prohibited from 
laying a duty on exports from any State, lest some 
States, raising chieflj" certain exportable articles, might 
be injuriousl}^ affected by the burden ; having in view, 
most probably, the cotton-crop of the Southern States. 
The last part of the clause requires that impartiahty 
shall be maintained by the general government in the 
regulations of commerce in regard to the different ports 
of the Union, and that commerce shall not be ob- 
structed by a port in any State being authorized to 
demand duties or entrance and clearance papers and 
fees of an}^ vessel bound to or from another port in 
any part of the Union, — in short, that commerce shall 
move freely from port to port in the different States as 
in a common country. 

[Clause 6.] *' No money shall be drawn from the 
treasurj^ but in consequence of appropriations made by 
law ; and a regular statement and account of the re- 
ceipts and expenditures of all public money shall be 
published from time to time." 

In accordance with the provisions of this clause, 
appropriations are made annually by Congress for meet- 
ing the expenses of the different departments of the 
public service, and pajing the public functionaries. 
The payments are made through the Treasurer of the 
United States, who causes to be kept an account of 
these and all other expenditures, as well as of all re- 
ceipts from taxes, duties, and other sources, which are 
embodied in an annual report to Congress, and pub- 
lished by them as here provided. 



Restrictions on Powers of Congress and States. 85 

If there are any claims against the government 
which are not provided for in the annual appropriation 
bills, they can be paid onl}" in consequence of special 
acts of Congress making appropriations to meet them. 
As Congress cannot be sued, the only redress of the 
claimant is, to obtain from the Court of Claims a bill 
making the necessary appropriation, and have it passed 
by Congress. 

[Clause 7.] "No title of nobility shall be granted 
by the United States ; and no person holding any office 
of profit or trust under them shall, without the consent 
of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, 
office, or title of any kind whatever, from any king, 
prince, or foreign state." 

Titles of nobility are inconsistent with the spirit of 
our republican institutions, and hence are not to be 
granted b}^ the general government, nor indeed by the 
State governments (Sect. 10, 1). The prohibition in 
regard to receiving presents, emoluments, titles, &c., 
from foreign kings or states, by functionaries of our 
government, is to prevent them from being influenced 
bj^ such temptations of foreign governments to swerve 
from fidelity to their own. Such presents, therefore, 
can be received only by the consent of Congress ; and 
when presented, and their reception is not consented to 
b}" Congress, they are deposited in the pubhc offices, or 
sold by order of Congress. 



86 Constitution of the United States, 

SECTION 10. 

[Clause 1.] "No State shall enter into any treaty, 
alliance, or confederation ; grant letters of marque and 
reprisal ; coin money ; emit bills of credit ; make any 
thing but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of 
debts ; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or 
law impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any 
title of nobiht3\" 

The restrictions upon the States in this tenth section 
prohibit them from exercising the essential powers of a 
nation, which belong alone to the general government. 
The prohibitions in this clause are : 1st, From doing 
certain things which the general government is ex- 
pressly authoriz3d to do ; as entering into a treat}'', 
confederation, or alliance (which only the President, 
with the consent of the Senate, can do : Art. 11. , Sect. 
2, 2), granting letters of marque and reprisal, and 
coining mone3\ 2d, From doing certain things which 
are impliedly granted to the general government by 
being forbidden to the States alone ; as emitting bills 
of credit, making any thing but gold and silver coin a 
legal tender for debts, and passing laws impairing the 
obligation of contracts. 3d, From doing certain 
things forbidden also to the general government ; as 
passing bills of attainder or ex post facto laws, and 
granting titles of nobilit}''. 

Entering into a confederation or alliance is of the 
same nature as making a treat}^, and, if to be done by 
any one, must be done by the treaty-making power. It 



Restrictions on Powers of Congress and States, 87 

IS a sovereign act, requiring the highest authorit}'' in 
the nation. Necessary governmental powers which are 
prohibited to the States — as those of the second class 
— are, of course, allowed to the United States. The 
very existence of the nation may depend upon their 
being exercised ; as, for instance, the issuing bills of 
credit in the form of paper money, and making them a 
legal tender instead of gold and silver, during our late 
civil war. This act also impaired the obligation of con- 
tracts, since contracts made when gold and silver alone 
were a legal tender, might, under the legal-tender act, 
be discharged by paying paper money, which was of 
less value. 

" Bills of credit " are simply paper money ^ and not 
bonds or other pecuniary obhgations issued by States, 
which no one is requu'ed to accept in payment of debts. 
And States, it is generally thought, are not even pre- 
vented b}^ this prohibition from issuing paper bills for 
money, provided they are not made a legal tender, but 
are redeemable at sight in gold and silver coin. The 
object of the prohibition was to prevent the issuing by 
the States of irredeemable paper money, with which the 
country had been flooded before the adoption of the 
Constitution, especially by the paper known as the "old 
tenor" and " new tenor" bills. 

The passing of laws impairing the obligation of con- 
tracts — the other restriction imposed upon States in 
this second class of prohibitions — is weakening the 
binding force or efficacy of contracts in any way by 
legislative acts. The language is general, and applies 
to contracts of everj^ description, and between what- 
ever parties, — as well between States as between indi- 



88 Constitution of the United States. 

viduals, and also between States and individuals or 
private corporations. A railroad charter granted by a 
State to a railroad company is a contract between the 
State and the company, and cannot be altered by 
the State, unless the right to do so was reserved in the 
charter at the time it was granted. So the charter- 
powers of a college, or other literary or benevolent 
institution, cannot be altered or annulled by the State, 
-unless it is so provided in the charter. But the char- 
ters of cities and other corporations, created wholly 
for public use and at the public expense, may be 
changed or repealed b}' the legislature of the State, 
reasonable compensation being made for anj^ incidental 
loss which any one may suffer in consequence of the 
change. 

[Clause 2.] '• No State shall, without the consent of 
the Congress, la}- any imposts or duties on imports or 
exports, except what may be absolute^ necessary for 
executing its inspection laws ; and the net produce of 
all duties and imposts, laid by any State on imports or 
exports, shall be for the use of the treasury'' of the 
United States ; and all such laws shall be subject to 
the revision and control of the -Congress." 

Congress also is prohibited from la34ng duties on ex- 
ports out of the country (Art. I., Sect. 9, 5) ; but in all 
other respects the power of Congress to lay and collect 
taxes for the national purposes committed to their care 
is without restriction. The States, on the contrary, 
are wholly confined to direct taxation on the persons 



Restrictions on Powers of Congress and States. 89 

and property of their own citizens ; since, all articles 
being liable to exportation either to other States or to 
foreign countries, none of them are allowed to be bur- 
dened by State taxation for their manufacture or 
preparation for the market, beyond simple inspection 
duties. Any thing assessed bej^ond this must go to the 
treasmy of the general government. 

As to imports, it has been decided that States cannot 
impose a tax on importers at anj^ of their ports, or on 
the articles imported while in the importer's hands and 
in their original packages. To tax importers would be 
to tax imports ; much more would it be taxing imports 
to tax the imported articles while in the hands of the 
importer, and in their original packages, before they 
become distributed among dealers, and thus mixed up 
with the general property of the State. After the}^ are 
so distributed, the power of taxing them for its own 
purposes passes to the State, as in other local matters. 
But no State taxation can be allowed to interfere with 
United States' taxation or with external and inter-State 
commerce, wMch are wholly under the control of Con- 
gress. 

[Clause 3.] "No State shall, without the consent of 
Congress, lay an}' dut}' of tonnage, keep troops or 
ships of war in time of peace, enter into any agree- 
ment or compact with another State or with a foreign 
power, or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in 
such imminent danger as will not admit of delay.*' 

The preceding restrictions on the States relate to 
civil or political affairs ; those here enumerated, chiefly 



90 Constitution of the United States. 

to warlike affairs. A duty, of tonnage is a customs' 
duty on vessels according to their registered capacity 
in tons. Vessels being neither exports nor imports, it 
was thought necessar}^, in order to prevent the States 
from all interference with commerce, and to limit their 
power of taxation wholl}^ to property within their bor- 
ders, to expressly prohibit their taxing ships, except as 
private property. 

Ships, too, — even merchant vessels, — are a most im- 
portant instrumentality in war, and for this reason also 
should not be subject to a customs' duty by the States, 
as the general government alone can declare and make 
war. Hence, also, the States are not allowed to keep 
troops or ships of war in time of peace, or to engage 
in war, except when actually invaded or in imminent 
danger of it : they may repel or ward off for the time 
being (i.e., till the United States' forces can be mus- 
tered) actual or inevitable violence, but cannot declare 
or cany on a formal war. 

The States are prohibited from entering into a com- 
pact or agreement with each other, or with a foreign 
power, in order to prevent factious political combina- 
tions designed to embarrass or overthrow the general 
government. The compacts here referred to are not 
open, formal confederations or alliances, which are for- 
bidden in a preceding clause, but less formal, and even 
secret agreements, utterly inconsistent with and sub- 
versive of a general government over the whole. The 
consent of Congress to the performance of an act by a 
State, as required here and in a few other cases, would 
only be an indirect way of authorizing them to do it 
themselves. 



Election and Induction of the President. 91 

From the preceding account of the legislative powers 
granted the general government, and the restrictions 
upon the same, and upon those of the States, it is obvi- 
ous that the former government is national, and the 
latter local. While the latter is definitel3^ and specifi- 
cally prohibited from interfering with the former in 
matters of a general and national interest, the action 
of the former is definitely restricted to matters which 
are of a general and national nature. They are both 
equally independent, and sovereign, if you please, 
within their spheres ; but the sovereignty^ of the general 
government is higher and more comprehensive than 
that of a State, as embracing the whole people in their 
general interests, and binding them together as a nation. 

State sovereignty at most is but local and subordi- 
nate. A State, not being allowed to enter into a treat}^, 
alliance, or confederation, or lay duties on imports or 
exports, or keep troops or ships of war, &c., e\4dently 
is not a nation, being devoid of the most essential and 
characteristic powers of a nation ; but the United 
States, being specialty endowed with national powers, 
as evidently is a nation, able to treat with and main- 
tain itself among other nations. 

DIVISION YI. 

ELECTION AND INDUCTION OF THE PRESIDENT. 

ARTICLE n.— EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. 

SECTION 1. 
[Clause 1.] "The executive power shall be vested 
in a President of the United States of America. He 



92 Constitution of the United States. 

shall hold his office during the term of four years, and, 
together with the Vice-President, chosen for the same 
term, be elected as follows." 

As the Constitution went into operation on the 4th 
of March, 1789, the term of four 3'ears, for which each 
President and Vice-President are to be chosen, begins 
on this day in every second odd year after the begin- 
ning of the term of the preceding President, and ends 
on the 3d of March (or practically on the 4th at noon) , 
in the fourth year after that. There is nothing in the 
Constitution which renders the President ineligible for 
a second or more terms ; but, as a presidential election 
occasions great strife and commotion throughout the 
land, many have thought it would be better if he were 
wholly ineligible, and the term of office were lengthened 
to six or eight years. 

It is admitted that there are evils in the present 
arrangement : would there not be in the one proposed 
as a substitute ? If a comparatively short term of the 
presidential office occasions too much agitation in the 
community hj frequent elections, would not a longer 
term be likely to make the President too independent 
of the popular will and wants? And, if it be said that 
the re-eligibilit}^ of the President tends to make his first 
term little more than an electioneering season for a 
second term, might not his ineligibility induce him to 
devote his energies with scarcely less zeal to the candi- 
dacy of some personal or political friend to succeed 
him? And might there not be particular crises, as at 
the second election of Mr. Lincoln in our late civil war, 
when it would be a great calamity if the President 



Election and Induetion of the President. 93 

were not re- eligible ? On the whole, is it not better as i\ 
is, leaving the people to decide b}^ a new election, at 
the end of four years, whether the President shall be 
continued in office four 3'ears more, or not? Besides, 
the excitement and discussions of a presidential elec- 
tion are great educators of the people. 

There is another argument in favor of a compara- 
tivety short presidential term of office. It is b}^ a change 
of Presidents that we change our administration ; while 
in England the administration is changed with every 
change of the ministr}', and usage requires the min- 
istry to resign whenever they lose an important measure 
in the House of Commons, or else submit to a dissolu- 
tion of Parhament and a new election. On this ground 
it has been contended ^ that the English Government is 
superior to ours, since it is more sensitive to the popu- 
lar will, and is determined in its action more by present 
vital questions. And if this objection is made to our 
government now, while our presidential term is scarcel}^ 
longer than the average ministerial term in England, 
how much more might it be made against us, if the 
length of our presidential term were increased ? 

In fact, not onty does the shortness of the presiden- 
tial term make the administration more sensitive to the 
demands of pressing pubhc questions, but its pohcy 
may be ver}^ considerably changed during its term of 
power, in consequence of the introduction of new mem- 
bers into Congress by fresh elections by the people, 
which are much more frequent and more popular in 
character here than in England. On the whole, we 

1 Sec Bagehot's English Constitution ; also International Review, March, 
1877. 



94 Constitution of the United States. 

have nothing to fear from a comparison of our system 
with what has been called government through a "re- 
sponsible ministry," as practised in England and some 
other European countries. 

The President of the French Republic is chosen by 
a joint vote of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies for 
seven years, and is re-eligible. His cabinet, which is 
responsible, as in England, consists, besides the Presi- 
dent of the Council, or prime minister, of the heads 
of the eight departments : of War, of Foreign Affairs, 
of the Interior, of Finance, of Public Instruction, of 
Public Works, of Marine, and of Commerce. They are 
all members, either of the Senate or the Chamber of 
Deputies. The election of the President by the legis- 
lature seems an unwise arrangement, as such a bod^^ 
from being long together, and wholly engaged in politi- 
cal affairs, must be peculiarly open to the arts of bar- 
gaining, intrigue, bribery, and corruption. } -u.^- ^-r*J--^^ 

-.vt.vi <vn».4%i- Ctit^. >^fiv,ji, on^A' O^^uv'^tClw^ nf > 
[Clause 2.] " Each State shall appoint, in such V^ 

manner as the legislature thereof may direct, a number 
of electors equal to the whole number of senators and 
representatives to which the State may be entitled in 
the Congress ; but no senator or representative or per- 
son holding an office of trust or profit under the United 
States shall be appointed an elector." 

The Constitution here fixes the number of electors 
to be chosen, but leaves the manner of their election 
wholly to the States ; simply prescribing that no sena- 
tor or representative or other functionary of the United 



JElection and Induction of the President, 95 

States' Government shall be chosen an elector. This is 
to prevent the introduction into the electoral college of 
persons whose office would naturally predispose them 
to vote for the President in office for another term, or 
for one of lilie politics. 

The manner of choosing the electors has varied in 
different States, and at different periods in our history. 
Formerly they were chosen, in several of the Southern 
States especially, by the legislatures. Where chosen 
by the people, the}' have commonly been voted for by 
general ticket, though a few States formerly chose them 
by districts. By this last method the elector in one 
district might be chosen by one political party, and the 
elector in another by another party ; while by the gen- 
eral-ticket S3'stem the}^ are all elected by that party 
which has the majorit}^ in the whole State, thus 
securing the entire electoral vote for their candidate : 
hence the latter system has generally prevailed, being 
especially favored by the larger States, though the for- 
mer gives the fairest expression of the will of the 
people. 

South Carohna, up to the time of the late civil war, 
continued to choose her electors hy the legislature, 
which gives but the remotest expression to the popular 
will, and will hardly be resorted to hereafter by any 
State. At any rate, by the fourteenth amendment, the 
basis of representation in any State is to be reduced 
according to the number of mature male inhabitants not 
allowed to vote for electors. Is, then, the choice of 
electors by legislatures constitutional? Vv^rv^-^o^uvN-^x. 

As the electors choose the President, when the 
electors are chosen the President is virtually chosen, 



96 Constitution of the United States. 

as they are sure to vote for the candidate of the party 
by which they are chosen. The real presidential strug- 
gle, therefore, is in the choice of the electors in the 
separate States, and it is all the safer by being thus 
broken up and distributed through numerous widely 
separate fields of action. 

[Clause 3.] " The electors shall meet in their respec- 
tive States, and vote by ballot for President and Vice- 
President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an 
inhabitant of the same State with themselves ; they 
shall name in their ballots the person voted for as 
President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for 
as Vice-President ; and they shall make distinct lists 
of all persons voted for as President, and of all 
persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the num- 
ber of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and 
certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the Gov- 
ernment of the United States, directed to the Presi- 
dent of the Senate. The President of the Senate 
shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of 
Representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes 
shall then be counted. The person having the greatest 
number of votes for President shall be the President, if 
such number be a majority of the whole number of 
electors appointed ; and, if no person have such major- 
ity, then from the persons having the highest numbers 
not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as 



Election and Induction of the President. 97 

President the House of Representatives shall choose 
immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing 
the President the vote shall be taken by States, the 
representation from each State having one vote ; a 
quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or 
members from two-thirds of the States, and a majority 
of aU the States shaU be necessary to a choice. And, 
if the House of Representatives shaU not choose a 
President, whenever the right of choice shall devolve 
upon them, before the fourth day of March next follow- 
ing, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as 
in the case of the death or other constitutional disabil- 
ity of the President. The person having the greatest 
number of votes as Vice-President shall be the Vice- 
President, if such number be a majority of the whole 
number of electors appointed ; and, if no person have 
a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the 
list the Senate shall choose the Vice-President ; a quo- 
rum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the 
whole number of senators, and a majority of the whole 
number shaU be necessar}^ to a choice. But no person 
constitutionally ineligible to the ofiBce of President 
shall be eligible to that of Vice-President ©f the United 
States." « 

This clause, on the mode of voting for the President 
and Vice-President, is a substitute for the original 
clause in the Constitution on that subject, adopted in 



98 Constitution of the United States, 

1804 as the twelfth amendment. It requires the electors 
to cast their ballots separately for President and for 
Vice-President, instead of voting indefinitel}^ for two 
persons for those offices, as the old clause required ; 
and, if no person voted for for President shall have a 
majority of the votes of all the electors appointed, the 
House of Representatives shall choose immediately a 
President from those in the list, not exceeding three ^ 
who shall have the highest number of votes, instead of 
the five highest, as allowed in the old clause. In like 
manner, in the clause as it now stands, the person hav- 
ing the greatest number of votes, and a majority of the 
whole, for Vice-President is to be the Vice-President ; 
and, if no one has such majority, the Senate is to choose 
a Vice-President from the two having the highest 
number of votes, instead of leaving, as b}^ the former 
clause, the person to be declared Vice-President who 
had the highest number of electoral votes after the 
person declared President, or else to be chosen by the 
Senate from those having an equal number of votes if 
there were any such. 

The advantages of the substitute are these : no one 
of three candidates would be likely to have so small a 
number of electoral votes as some one of five might 
have ; and, what is still more important, the old method 
did not pro-sdde for a Vice-President till the election of 
the President was determined, which might not be till 
after the 4th of Marih. Indeed, this came very near 
being the case in the memorable and protracted strug- 
gle in the House of Representatives at the election of 
JeJfferson and Burr in 1800. It was in consequence of 
this struggle that the amendment was adopted, which, 



Election and Induction of the President. 99 

it will be perceived, x^rovides that the Vice-President 
shall act as President in case a President is not chosen 
b}^ the 4th of March ensuing, presuming that hath the 
Senate and the House of Representatives would not 
fail of a choice. 

The clause requires, it will be perceived, that the 
electors in each State shall make distinct lists of their 
ballots for President and for Vice-President, and sign 
and certify these lists, and transmit them sealed to the 
seat of the government, directed to the President of the 
Senate. And Congress has enacted that this require- 
ment shall be fulfilled by sending, before a certain date, 
one such certified list by a special messenger to the 
President of the Senate at Washington, and another to 
him by mail, and depositing a third list with the judge 
of the district where the electors meet. 

The President of the Senate is to open these certifi- 
cates in the presence of the Senate and House of Rep- 
resentatives, and the votes are to be counted. It is 
not said who shall count them, and declare the vote ; 
but, in the case of Washington and several succeeding 
Presidents, this was done by the President of the Sen- 
ate, and the count continued to be made by tellers 
appointed b}^ him till the election of the last President, 
in 1876. Up to that time, indeed, this course was very 
generally thought to be plainly implied by the language 
of this clause. At this election, however, the double 
and conflicting returns of the electoral colleges of sev- 
eral States made it apparent that a broader interpreta- 
tion should be put upon the language, and that the 
Senate and House of Representatives were not required 
to meet simply as spectators of the opening and declar- 



100 Constitution of the United States, 

ing of the votes, but to have a voice also in determining 
their character and validity. 

The right of participation in the count by the two 
houses being conceded, it was inevitable that they 
would disagree on all doubtful returns of electoral votes, 
as the Senate was Republican and the House of Eepre- 
sentatives Democratic. They did disagree most obsti- 
nately^ ; and after violent and protracted discussion of 
their differences, during which society was thrown into 
the greatest agitation, — and the worst of consequences 
were feared, — the houses agreed to submit tlieir dif- 
ferences, with regard to the conflicting returns from 
difierent States, for decision to an Electoral Commis- 
sion, consisting of five members of each house with five 
justices of the Supreme Court. 

This terminated the conflict for the time being ; but 
it may recur again at another presidential election, 
unless some better provisions are made for preventing 
it. Various plans for efi'ecting this have been sug- 
gested and discussed, but no one has as yet been 
adopted. The plan of Senator Edmunds provided 
that a single return of the electoral votes from any 
State should always be counted, unless rejected by a 
separate vote of each house of Congress, and that 
neither of tiuo or more differing returns from a State 
should be counted without an aflBirmative vote by each 
house. This, witli some other collateral provisions, 
was embodied by him in a bill, which passed the Sen- 
ate of the Fortj-fifth Congress, but was not acted upon 
by the house. It is probable that some such provision 
as this will finally be adopted. 

When the votes cast by the electors fail to choose a 



Election and Induction of the President. 101 

President, the election, it will be observed, devolves 
upon the House of Representatives, where each State 
is entitled to but a single vote. This gives the smaller 
States the same weight in the election as the larger 
ones have, and hence operates as a wholesome stimulus 
with the latter, to so concentrate their Azotes as to deter- 
mine the election hy the popular vote. 

[Clause 4.] " The Congress ma}^ determine the time 
of choosing the electors, and the day on which they 
shall give their votes ; which da}^ shall be the same 
throughout the United States." 

Congress has exercised the authority here granted it ; 
and, by its present enactments, the electors in each 
State are to be chosen every fourth 3'ear on the Tuesda}' 
next following the first Monda}^ in November (which is 
the da}' in most States for choosing representatives to 
Congress also) , and to meet and cast their votes for 
President and Vice-President on the first "Wednesday in 
December ; while the votes are to be counted in Con- 
gress on the second Wednesday in Februar}', and the 
presidential term of four 3'ears to begin on the 4th of 
March. It is also provided that States may make pro- 
vision for filling vacancies which may occur in their 
electoral colleges. 

At this most vital point in our system, the choice of 
presidential electors by the States (which is virtually 
the choice of the Pr-esident), Congress, it will be seen, 
can exert no control bej'ond fixing the da}^ of their choice 
and of their casting their votes. It is not entitled, 
as in the choice of members of Congress b}' the States, 



102 Constitution of the United States, 

to maKG regulations as to the manner of these elec- 
tions. It cannot, therefore, exercise any supervision 
over them. Its remedy is, to refuse to count the votes 
when reported, if satisfied that the}' are fraudulent. 
But, by the fourteenth amendment, it would seem that 
they can no longer be elected b}'' the legislature, but 
must be voted for directly by the people of the State, 
or the State loses its representation in Congress. \^ 

[ClaiMe 5.J ' 1 No person except a natural-born citi- 
zen, or a citizen of the United States at the time of the 
adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the 
oflace of President ; neither shall any person be eligible 
to that office who shall not have attained to the age 
of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident 
within the United States." 

To be eligible as President, then, it is necessary that 
one should be born in the country, be thirty-five years 
of age, and have had a residence in the country of at 
least fourteen years : the requirement that he should 
be a citizen of the United States at the adoption of the 
Constitution refers to citizenship by naturalization, 
and ia now obsolete. This last qualification, and that 
in relation to a previous residence of fom-teen years in 
the country, were designed to secure loyalty to the gov- 
ernment, and acquaintance with the wants and ways of 
the people in the incumbent of the office. 

[Clause 6.] " In case of the removal of the President 
fi.-om office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to 



JElection and Induction of the President, 103 

discharge the powers and duties of the said office, the 
same shall devolve on the Vice-President ; and the Con- 
gress ma}', by law, provide for the case of removal, 
death, resignation, or inabilit}', both of the President 
and Vice-President, declaring what officer shall then 
act as President, and such officer shall act accordinglj", 
until the disability be removed, or a President shall be 
elected." 

The Vice-President, then, is to succeed to the office 
of the President in case of his death, removal, or ina- 
bility to discharge the duties of the office. If the dis- 
ability of the President is temporarj^, the holding of the 
office by the Vice-President will be but temporar}- ; but 
in case of his death, removal, or permanent disabilitj^ 
the Vice-President retains the office to the end of the 
presidential term. 

It is here provided, also, that, in case of the death 
or other disability of both the President and the Vice- 
President, Congress maj^ declare what officer shall act 
as President tiU the disability is removed, or a Presi- 
dent elected. Accordingly Congress has provided, 
that, in such a case, the President pro tempore of the 
Senate (see Art. I., Sect. 3, 4,) shall act as President 
of the United States, and, if there be no such officer, 
then the Speaker of the House of Representatives. 
But, in case five months or more remain before the expi- 
ration of the presidential term of office, the Secretary 
of State is required to notif}^ the Executive of every 
State of the vacancy, and call upon them to make pro- 
vision for choosing electors of President and Vice- 
President for the remainder of the term. 



104 Constitution of the United States. 

[Clause 7.] "The President shall, at stated times, 
receive for his services a compensation, which shall 
neither be increased nor diminished during the period 
for which he shall have been elected ; and he shall not 
receive within that period any other emolument from 
the United States, or any of them." 

The President's salary is now $50,000 a year (until 
1873 it was $25,000), and the Vice-President's is 
$8,000. This is very moderate compared with the sala- 
ries of the chief executive officer in other governments : 
that of the President of the French Republic being 
$150,000 a year ; while the Civil List, or personal 
salary of Queen Victoria, is $1,720,000. And not only 
is the pay of our President moderate, but he is pro- 
hibited from receiving any further compensation from 
any State or United States' office. 

[Clause 8.] " Before he enter on the execution of 
his office, he shall take the following oath or affirma- 
tion : — 

" ' I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faith- 
fully execute the office of President of the United 
States, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, 
protect, and defend the Constitution of the United 
States.' " 

This oath of office is administered to the President 
by the Chief Justice of the United States. The oath 
invests him with his office, and, at the same time, indi- 



Powers and Duties of the President. 105 

cates the general scope and sphere of his duties, — "to 
preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the 
United States." 



DIVISION VII. 
POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE PRESIDENT. 

SECTION 2. 
[Clause 1.] The President shall be commander-in- 
chief of the army and navy of the United States, and 
of the militia 'of the several States when called into 
the actual service of the United States ; he may require 
the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each 
of the executive departments upon any subject relat- 
ing to the duties of their respective offices, and he shall 
have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offences 
against the United States, except in cases of impeach- 
ment." 

The rights and duties of commander-in-chief of the 
army and navy were understood in general from English 
usage, as well as from earlier usage in our own countrj^ ; 
but they required to be more fully defined and regulated 
by Congress, which has been done by various enact- 
ments. The laws and rules of our mihtary service, and 
other special acts, prescribe his rights and duties both 
in peace and in war. The military functions of the 
President clearly belong to him as the Chief Executive 
of the nation. In Art. VI., 3, executive officers evi- 
dently include mihtary officers. 



106 Constitution of the United States. 

"We have in this and the next clause the only allu- 
sion in the Constitution to the executive departments, 
which occupy so important a place in our government. 
Their functions were sufficiently understood from their 
use and operation under the Confederation, as well as 
in England and other countries. Their organization 
was left wholly to Congress, except that, according to 
another provision of the Constitution (Art. I., Sect. 6, 
2) , all officers of the government, including, of course, 
cabinet officers, are excluded from Congress. In this 
respect our usage is directly opposite to that of Eng- 
land, where the consulting ministers, or Cabinet, are all 
members of one or the other house of Parliament ; 
thus fusing, as it were, the executive and legislative 
departments, — while with us they are wholly inde- 
pendent of each other (See Bagehot's "English Con- 
stitution.") 

In aid of the President, as the general executive 
officer of the government. Congress has established 
seven executive departments, each of the first five 
being presided over by a secretary, so called ; viz., the 
Department of State, the Department of the Treasury, 
the Department of the Interior, the Department of War, 
the Department of the Navy, the Department of Jus- 
tice, and the Post-Office Department, — the two latter 
being presided over, respectively, by the Attorney-Gen- 
eral and the Postmaster-General. Each of these chief 
officers receives a yearly salary of eight thousand dol- 
lars ; and they have under them assistants, commis- 
sioners, heads of bureaus, &c., as the duties of their 
departments require. 

The heads of these departments are the President's 



Powers and Duties of the President. 107 

ad\'isers, and correspond to what is called the Cabinet 
in England. Being appointed on the nomination of the 
President, they are supposed to be in substantial agree- 
ment with him in polic}'. The President may require 
their opinion in writing, but is not bound to adopt it. 
These seven departments cover the whole sphere of the 
action of the government, over which the President 
j)resides, and for which Congress legislates ; though the 
Department of Justice is not strictly executive. 

The Cabinet in England at present consists of six- 
teen members; viz., the First Lord of the Treasury 
(regularly the Prime Minister) , Chancellor of the Ex- 
chequer, the Lord Chancellor, President of the Council, 
Lord Priv3^ Seal, the Secretaries of State for the Home 
Department, for Foreign Affairs, for the Colonies, for 
War, and for India, First Lord of the Admiralty, First 
Commissioner of Works, Chief Secretary for Ireland, 
President of the Local Government Board, Vice-Presi- 
dent of the Education Committee of the Priv}'' Council, 
and the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. These 
alone — i.e., the Cabinet proper — are the consulting 
members of the ministrj', which, as a whole, consists 
of thirty-one persons. Their salaries are all large, 
varying from ten thousand to twentj'-five thousand dol- 
lars a year. The English Cabinet are under the direc- 
tion of the Prime Minister, and, as with us, are all of 
the same part}" in politics. 

The President, being the chief executive officer of 
the national government, is very naturally intrusted 
with the pardoning power, which extends to both ci"sdl 
and criminal offences against any of the laws of the 
United States, as distinct from those of the States. 



108 Constitution of the United States. 

But the President cannot pardon impeachable offences ; 
since, as political considerations, often of the highest 
moment, enter into such cases, their prosecution and 
trial have been wholly committed to Congress. If, 
therefore, the President could pardon such offences, he 
might rescue the most dangerous poUtical offender from 
a just condemnation ; and he would often be under a 
strong temptation to do so, as all persons liable to im- 
peachment, being civil officers of the United States 
(Sect. 4, 1), are necessarily his appointees either di- 
rectly or indirectly. 

[Clause 2.] " He shall have power, by and with the 
advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, 
provided two-thirds of the senators present concur ; 
and he shall nominate and, by and with the advice 
and consent of the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, 
other public ministers, and consuls, judges of the Su- 
preme Court, and all other officers of the United States 
whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided 
for, and which shall be established by law ; but the 
Congress may by law vest the appointment of such 
inferior officers as they think proper in the President 
alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of depart- 
ments." 

This clause gives the President power to make trea- 
ties, with the advice and consent of two- thirds of the 
Senate, and, with the advice and consent of a majority 
of the Senate, to appoint all officers, both civil and 



Powers and Duties of the President, 109 

military, under the general government, whose ap- 
pointment is not provided for in the Constitution itself, 
and which shall be established by law, — whether these 
officers be for foreign or home service. Congress may, 
however, in its discretion, vest the appointment of the 
inferior officers of the government in the President 
alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of depart- 
ments. 

When it is considered that there are, as enumerated 
in the "Blue Book," some eighty-six thousand office- 
holders of all grades and degrees under the general 
government to be appointed, and that the number is 
every year increasing, it will be seen what an immense 
power is here granted the President. The minor ap- 
pointments, it is true, have been, as here allowed, 
intrusted to the heads of departments or superior offi- 
cers. Even these, however, are but indirect appoint- 
ments b}^ the President. Such an army of officials, 
in a country of so vast extent as om-s, cannot, of 
course, be intelligently appointed without local infor- 
mation as to the character of the appointees. What- 
ever may be the need of " civil reform," the senators 
and representatives cannot be whoUj^ overlooked in this 
matter. 

A treaty is an international statute affecting the in- 
terests of two nations, and, when ratified, is of binding 
authority upon them both according to its terms. The 
Constitution (Art. III., Sect. 2, 2) considers treaties as 
of the nature of laws, by making questions arising under 
them subjects of adjudication by the Supreme Court of 
the United States. The preliminar}^ negotiations for 
treaties are usually conducted by the President through 



110 Constitution of the United States. 

some diplomatic agent at the com't of the nation with 
which the treaty is to be made. 

The treat}', as agreed upon in these preliminary ne- 
gotiations, is submitted by the President to the Senate, 
and may be by them approved, amended, or rejected. 
If amended by them, the amendments must be con- 
curred in by the other nation before it becomes law ; 
and, if approved by the Senate, it usualty requires the 
concurrence of the House of Representatives also, in 
the passage of a law to meet the expenses of the nego- 
tiations, or some other expenditure of money required 
in carrying out its provisions, as to pay for territory 
acquired by the treaty, as in the cases of Louisiana, 
Florida, California, and Alaska. 

"Ambassadors, public ministers, and consuls" are 
appointed for service in foreign countries. Ambassa- 
dors and other public ministers, as envoys extraor- 
dinar}', ministers plenii^otentiary, ministers resident, 
charges d'affaires, are diplomatic agents at different 
foreign courts for important national and political ob- 
jects (salaries from $5,000 to 1^17,500) ; while consuls 
are but a higher class of commercial agents, appointed 
to attend to questions connected with the commerce, 
business, and travel of Americans in foreign countries. 

Our consular corps in different countries consists of 
seventeen consuls-general, with salaries amounting to 
$70,500 ; one hundred and sixtj^-eight consuls (includ- 
ing six commercial agents), with salaries amounting 
to $327,000 ; thirteen consular clerks, with salaries 
amounting to $14,000; also fiftj^-nine consuls and 
fourteen commercial agents, who receive no salaries, 
but are allowed to retain the fees received by them in 



Powers and Duties of the President. Ill 

the exercise of their office, and are not prohibited from 
engaging in business. (See " North- American Re- 
view, " April, 1876). Consuls are amenable to the 
laws of the countr}^ where they are resident ; but 
ambassadors and other public ministers are not thus 
amenable, but may be dismissed or expelled from the 
country for offences, or, if not acceptable, their recall 
may be demanded. 

As we have seen, the President can appoint to office 
onl}^ as the Senate assents to the appointment. May 
he, then, dismiss without their consent? This question 
was warmly discussed in the First Congress, in 1789, 
and decided in the affirmative ; and the decision was 
followed in the practice of all the Presidents down to 
the time of the presidency of Andrew Johnson in 1867, 
when Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act. This 
act merely allows the President to suspend an officer 
for cause, and to make a temporary appointment in his 
place till the meeting of Congress, and to report to 
them his reasons for so doing. 

According to the act, it will be seen, the officer is 
not permanently superseded till another person is ap- 
pointed in his stead by the President, with the consent 
of the Senate. Hence, if the Senate adjourn without 
acting upon nominations which the President may have 
made to fill the places of such suspended officers, it 
would seem that this would restore the suspended offi- 
cers to their former places, till other nominations are 
made in their places and confirmed by the Senate at a 
subsequent session. 

The appointment of the President and the members 
of Congress is provided for in the Constitution itself, 



112 Constitution of the United States, 

it being required that they shall be elected by the peo- 
ple of the different States. They are not, therefore, 
commissioned officers, but original, constituent officers 
of the government, through whom the whole machiner}' 
of the government is originated and kept going. 

[Clause 3.] " The President shall have power to fill 
up vacancies that may happen during the recess of the 
Senate, by granting commissions which shall expire at 
the end of their next session." 

The vacancies here referred to are vacancies in any 
of the numerous United States' offices alluded to in the 
previous clause. When such vacancies occur during 
a recess of the Senate, whether from death, resigna- 
tion, or any other cause, the President, without the 
concurrence of the Senate, may fill them b}^ granting 
temporar}^ commissions, which expire at the end of the 
next session of the Senate. But, in case the Senate 
adjourns again without filling the vacancy, the Presi- 
dent may grant a new commission to the same person, 
or another one, till the end of the following session, 
since their adjournment terminates the former commis- 
sion and makes a new recess. 

These officials are assigned to national duties all 
over the Union, as in the forts, arsenals, militar}^ 
posts, court-houses, custom-houses, post-offices, &c. ; 
thus, in accordance with the Constitution, establishing 
the national government for general purposes in ever}^ 
State and Territor3^ These officers and emplojxes, the 
general government directs and protects in their special 
duties against State interference, though in other re- 



Powers and Duties of the President. 113 

spects they are mere citizens of the place where they 
reside. 

SECTION 3. 

" He shall from time to time give to the Congress 
information of the state of the Union, and recommend 
to their consideration such measures as he shall judge 
necessary and expedient ; he ma}^, on extraordinary 
occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, 
and, in case of disagreement between them with re- 
spect to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them 
to such time as he shall think proper ; he shall receive 
ambassadors and other public ministers ; he shall take 
care that the laws be faithfull}^ executed, and shall 
commission all the officers of the United States." 

The President discharges the duty enjoined upon 
him b}' the first part of this clause in his annual mes- 
sage to Congress at the beginning of their session, and 
such other special messages as may be deemed neces- 
sar}^ from time to time. It is often necessary, or 
highly important, that there should be extra sessions 
of Congress or of the Senate (as for executive business 
at the end of a session), which the President is here 
authorized to call. It is scarcely less important, that 
he should- have power to put an end to a useless and 
unseemlj^ contest between the houses of Congress as 
to the time of adjournment, by adjourning them to a 
certain day ; otherwise we might possibly have a 
"Long Parliament," or something worse. 

All ambassadors and other public ministers from 



114 Constitution of the United States. 

foreign countries must present their credentials to the 
President, be formally received by him, and receive his 
allowance, or exequatur^ to enter upon the duties of 
their office. As commander-in-chief of the army and 
nav}^, the President has ample means at his command 
to execute the laws of the United States (though some- 
what hampered in the use of them by the posse comi- 
tatus law of 1878) ; and, as the chief executive of the 
nation, he is very properly required to " see that the 
laws are faithfully executed." The signing of the com- 
mission of an officer of the United States completes 
his appointment, and this must be done by the Presi- 
dent. 

SECTION 4. 

" The President, Vice-President, and all civil officers 
of the United States, shall be removed from office on 
impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, 
or other high crimes and misdemeanors." 

The general government of the United States, as it 
exercises control over common citizens onty in certain 
ver}" general relations, or as they are in its immediate 
service, has the power to impeach merely its own pub- 
lic officers, and, of these, onl}' civil officers (i.e., execu- 
tive and judicial officers) , since military officers are sub- 
ject, in the like cases to those here enumerated for 
impeachment, to trial b}" court-martial and dismission 
from the service. The members of the Senate and 
House of Pepresentatives are the only members of the 
government who are not subject to impeachment, since 
they are not commissioned officers of the government, 



Judicial Department. 115 

but its organizing and ultimate controlling power (see 
Art. I., Sect. 6, 1). 

In the view of the law, the sovereign of England 
can do no wrong, and in his official capacity is sup- 
posed in all cases to act by the advice of his ministers, 
who are held responsible for all the faults and failures 
of the administration. But under our government, as 
we see, the President is liable to impeachment for offi- 
cial misconduct ; while, in other than his official rela- 
tions, he is subject to all legal processes and require- 
ments, like a private citizen, such as being sued, being 
summoned into court, giving testimony, &c. 



DIVISION VIII. 
ARTICLE ni. — JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT. 

SECTION 1. 

" The judicial power of the United States shall be 
vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior 
courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain 
and establish. The judges, both of the supreme and 
inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good 
behavior ; and shaU, at stated times, receive for their 
services a compensation which shaU not be diminished 
during their continuance in office." 

"We come now to the judicial department; of the gen- 
eral government, which is here established in outline 
by vesting its power in one supreme court and such 



116 Constitution of the United States, 

other inferior courts as Congress may ordain. At the 
same time, that the judges ma}^ be independent, it fixes 
their tenure of office so that they can be removed only 
on impeachment for ill behavior. Each State, of course, 
has a separate judicial sj^stem of its own, subordinate 
to that of the United States, for attending to local con- 
troversies, offences, and crimes. Under the Confedera- 
tion there was really no national judicature distinct from 
that of the States. 

The Supreme Court, which holds its sessions at 
Washington, as far as organized by Congress, consists 
of a chief justice (with a salary of $10,500) and eight 
associate justices (with a salary of $10,000 each). 
Congress has also provided for a Circuit Court (at the 
same time defining its jurisdiction, both original and 
appellate) by dividing the United States into nine cir- 
cuits, and appointing a circuit-judge in each (salary, 
$6,000), who is to hold the court in his circuit, either 
in conjunction with the visiting justice of the Supreme 
Court for that circuit, or in conjunction with the judge 
of the District Court (which also has its jurisdiction 
defined) of the district where the court is held ; of 
which district-judges (salaries from $3,500 to $5,000) 
there are fiftj^'-seven in the United States, — one for each 
of the fifty-seven judicial districts into which the United 
States are divided. The clerk of a District Court serves 
also in the Circuit Court when held in his district, and 
the district-attorney is the prosecuting officer in both 
courts. 

Congress has also established a Court of Claims, 
consisting of a chief justice and four associate justices. 
Its duties are to attend to all claims brought against 



Judicial Department. 117 

the general government. It holds its sessions at 
Washington, and reports its decisions on claims brought 
before it to Congress, to be ultimate^ decided by 
them. While all United States' judges hold their oflSce 
for good behavior, State judges are generally either 
appointed by the governor, or chosen by the people 
or by the legislature, for a term of years. 

Till very recently the general judicial system of Eng- 
land embraced four superior courts, — the Court of 
King's Bench, the highest common-law court, which 
took cognizance of both civil and criminal cases, and 
received appeals from the other courts ; the Court of 
Common Pleas, which confined itself to civil cases 
between subjects ; the Court of Exchequer, both a law 
and equity court, trjdng all revenue cases, and many 
others ; the Court of Chancer}^, confining itself to equit}^ 
cases. In 1874 these four courts were consolidated 
into one supreme court of judicature, divided into two 
parts, — a high court of justice, and a court of appeals. 
At the same time the forms of administering justice 
were simplified, and the distinction between law and 
equity disregarded. There is also a system of county 
courts for the prompt and inexpensive collection of 
debts, and for the trial of trespasses and petty felo- 
nies ; the quarterly sessions of the justices of the 
peace ; and a sort of circuit court of the judges of the 
supreme court, called the Court of Assize, for trying 
the more important cases in the counties. 

SECTION 2. 
[Clause 1.] " The judicial power shall extend to all 
cases in law and equity arising under this Constitu- 



118 Constitution of the United States. 

tion, the laws of the United States, and treaties made, 
or which shall be made, under their authority ; to all 
cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, 
and consuls ; to all cases of admiralty and maritime 
jurisdiction ; to controversies to which the United 
States shall be a party ; to controversies between two 
or more States ; between a State and citizens of 
another State ; between citizens of different States ; 
between citizens of the same State claiming lands 
under grants of different States ; and between a State, 
or the citizens thereof, and foreign States, citizens, or 
subjects." 

" All cases in law and equity " a-re all suits of what- 
ever kind instituted in legal form for trial. A case in 
law is such a case as in England was tried b}' a com- 
mon-law court, and according to common-law rules ; 
while a case in equity is such a case as in England was 
tried in a chancery court on equity principles, which 
take into account intentions, accidental or providential 
circumstances, and the like, in determining the guilt 
or hability of a party. 

The strictly legal system of England is the common- 
law s^^stem, characterized especiall}^ b}^ trial bj^ jnr}', 
and distinguished from what is called the civil or Roman 
law system, which prevails in other countries of Europe. 
In other words, English law is of native growth, hav- 
ing grown up from common usages and principles, sup- 
plemented by parliamentary^ statutes and decisions of 
courts in accordance with such principles. Our system 



Judicial Department, 119 

of jurisprudence, also, is based on the common law ; 
which, however, in both this countrj' and England, has 
now become so modified and extended as to supersede 
the necessit}- of any special equit}' courts, since it 
admits, in practice, the introduction of equity princi- 
ples. 

'^Arising under" (i.e., cases involving any question 
under) the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the United 
States ; and not only so m general, but cases involv- 
ing any such question in regard to certain particular 
subjects of a national nature which immediatel}' follow. 
In tr3dng such questions, the court ma}' decide that the 
law determines it so and so ; or possibly it may find it 
necessary to go further, and decide that the law which 
determines the case is itself unconstitutional, which is 
the only way in which the courts pass upon the consti- 
tutionalit}' of the laws : they never pronounce upon them 
beforehand, but test them in applying them to particu- 
lar cases which come before them. In England, where 
there is no written constitution, all acts of Parhament 
are constitutional, and must be enforced by the courts. 
With us, however, only constitutional laws can be 
enforced. The judiciarj' is thus a check upon Congress. 

As ambassadors, pubhc ministers, and consuls all owe 
their appointment to the provisions of the Constitution, 
and are regular emplo3'ees of the general government, 
of course all cases afi'ecting them would come before 
the United States' courts ; and, as Congress alone can 
legislate on commerce, admiralty' and maritime cases, 
which in England were tried by admiralty courts, 
would here be tried by our national courts. 

The other cases enumerated in this clause (i.e., the 



120 Constitution of the United States. 

*' controversies," so called) are those to wMch the 
United States are a party ; those to which a State is a 
part}'' in litigation with another State or a foreign State, 
or with the citizens of another State or of a foreign 
State ; and those between citizens of different States ; 
or of the same State in trying land-claims granted by 
different States ; and those between citizens of the 
United States and of foreign States. Hence, of all 
cases to which individuals are a party, only such are 
entitled to come before a United States' court as are 
of more than local importance by the j^arties to the 
controversy ; and even of these it has been arranged 
that certain minor cases may be tried also in the State 
courts. Hence the great mass of common, private 
litigation must be conducted in the State courts. 

That the controversies, so called, enumerated in the 
latter part of the preceding clause are to be tried in 
United States' courts, is a sufScient warrant for Con- 
gress to make ' ' all laws necessary and proper to carry 
into effect" the power here granted to these courts; 
and pertaining as they do to the relations of the differ- 
ent States as such, and to the general extra State rela- 
tions of their citizens, as well as to foreign States, 
citizens, or subjects, their adjudication naturally be- 
longs to the national courts. 

But, as States in their corporate capacity were un- 
willing to be sued by individuals, the eleventh amend- 
ment was proposed by the Third Congress, and ratified 
by the States, prohibiting the national courts from 
entertaining a suit against a State, brought by any 
citizen of another State or of a foreign State. (See 
Amendment XI.) 



Judicial Department, 121 

[Clause 2.] "In all cases affecting ambassadors, 
other public ministers, and consuls, and those in which 
a State shall be a party, the Supreme Court shall have 
original jurisdiction. In all the other cases before 
mentioned, the Supreme Court shall have appellate 
jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, with such excep- 
tions and under such regulations as the Congress shall 
make." 

This clause enumerates those of the preceding cases 
which are to come originally, or in the first instance, 
before the Supreme Court of the United States, and to 
be decided by it without appeal. The other cases may 
come before the Supreme Court on an appeal from an 
inferior court, under such regulations, however, and 
with such exceptions as Congress may make. Accord- 
ingly Congress has enacted, among other regulations, 
that in civil cases there can be no appeal to the Su- 
preme Court from a decision in the Circu t Court, when 
less than two thousand dollars are at stake. It has 
also provided, that an appeal may be made to the 
Supreme Court from a decision in the highest court of 
a State adverse to the United States, in a case of con- 
flict between State and United States' laws or authority. 

" Both as to law and fact ; " i.e., without a jury. In 
a jury trial, the judge lays down the law, and the jury 
determine the facts and give the verdict, which, in our 
countr}^, must be unanimous. But the Supi'eme Court 
regularly has no jury except in criminal cases (as re- 
quired by the next clause), and by this clause is 
allowed, in its appellate jurisdiction, to review cases 



122 Constitution of the United States. 

without a jury, which may have been tried in a lower 
court by a jury (as both the District and Circuit Courts 
are required by law to try facts by jury) . It was this 
that led to the adoption of the seventh amendment 
(which see) . 

[Clause 3.] "The trial of all crimes, except in 
cases of impeachment, shall be by jmy ; and such 
trial shall be held in the State where the said crimes 
shall have been committed ; but, when not committed 
within any State, the trial shall be at such place or 
places as the Congress maj^ by law have directed." 

Crimes under the laws of the United States are to 
be tried b}^ jury in the State where they are committed, 
lest the general government, by an abuse of power, 
might take the accused far from his home for trial, and 
thus subject him to inconvenience and expense, and 
deprive him of a jur}^ and witnesses of his vicinage. 
Crimes not committed within a State — as, for instance, 
on the high seas, or in a Territory, fort, or arsenal — 
are required by act of Congress to be tried, according to 
the nature of the crime, b}' the Circuit or District Courts, 
and in the judicial district where the criminal is ar- 
rested or brought into port. Crimes, then, against the 
United States, except b}" national functionaries (Clause 
2) , in States and Territories and on the high seas, must 
first be tried by the District or Circuit Courts, and can 
be tried in the Supreme Court at Washington only 
on an appeal. 



Judicial Department, 123 

SECTION 3. 

[Clause 1.] "Treason against the United States 
shall consist only in levjing war against them, or in 
adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and com- 
fort. No person shall be convicted of treason, unless 
on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt 
act, or on confession in open court." 

Treason against the United States is here defined to 
be either actual lev3ing war against them (i.e., not 
merel}^ conspiring for treasonable purposes, but actually 
collecting forces for carrying them out) , or giving aid 
and support to their enemies. In the same merciful 
spirit, also, the clause requires, for the conviction of a 
person on trial for treason, the testimony of at least 
two witnesses to the same overt act, or a confession of 
the accused in open court. The crime being of the 
highest nature, the strongest evidence is required to 
convict one of it. 

[Clause 2.] "The Congress shall have power to 
declare the punishment of treason ; but no attainder 
of treason shall work corruj)tion of blood, or forfeit- 
ure, except during the life of the person attainted." 

By this clause, whatever punishment Congress may 
affix to treason, it must terminate with the life of the 
traitor. It must not attach any judicial disability or 
taint to his posterity ; it must not make them incapa- 
ble of inheriting an}^ of the traitor's property which 
may remain after the punishment is met, and much 



124 Constitution of the United States. 

less make them incapable of inheriting property from 
his ancestors, all which was the consequence of the 
attainder of treason in England. It does not prohibit 
the confiscation of the real estate of the traitor as a 
penalt}^ although it must necessarily remain confis- 
cated after his death. At the beginning of our late 
civil war, President Lincoln was evidently over-scru- 
pulous on this point. Besides, the treason in this 
case, being that of a formidable combination of States 
engaged in seizing the property and defying the au- 
thority of the general government, became open war 
upon that government, and required the application of 
the laws of war, as soon became evident. 



DIVISION IX. 

MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS. 

ARTICLE IV. 

SECTION 1. 
[Clause 1.] ''Full faith and credit shall be given 
in each State to the public acts, records, and judicial 
proceedings of every other State. And the Congress 
may, by general laws, prescribe the manner in which 
such acts, records, and proceedings shall be proved, 
and the effect thereof." 

" The public acts, records, and judicial proceedings" 
of a State are its legislative and judicial acts as re- 
corded. These acts in each State are to have "full 



Miscellaneous Provisions. 125 

faith and credit ' ' in every other State in the Union, 
the whole country being viewed in this respect as one. 
Such records are to have in every State the same force 
and efficac}^ in establishing or determining the fact or 
subject-matter to which they relate. It is here also 
further provided that Congress ma}^ prescribe the man- 
ner of proving these records, and the effect of such 
proof. The mode of proof required is prescribed in 
an act of Congress passed May 26, 1790, which adds 
that the effect of such proof shall be to entitle them 
to "the same faith and credit in every court within 
the United States as they have in the courts of the 
States from which the}^ were taken." 

SECTION 2. 

[Clause 1.] "The citizens of each State shall be 
entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in 
the several States." 

This clause also views the whole country as one 
under the general government. Hence the citizens 
of one State are to have the common privileges and 
immunities of citizenship in all the States. "Wherever 
they go to travel, trade, or sojourn in au}^ part of the 
Union, they are to enjoy the fall protection of the local 
laws, to be treated as citizens of a free countr}^, and 
not be subjected to the annoj-ances and disabilities of 
aliens. At least no State can constitutionally deny 
the citizens of another State the privileges and immu- 
nities which thej" grant their own citizens. Privileges 
and immunities, however, do not include political 
rights ; as the right to vote, to hold offices, &c. These 



126 Constitution of the United States. 

are not mere privileges, but rights or franchises, which, 
till the recent amendments of the Constitution, de- 
pended wholly upon the State governments. 

The Constitution here commits to the general gov- 
ernment the protection of only the common privileges 
and immunities of citizens. The law passed by Con- 
gress April 9, 1866, known as the Civil-Rights Bill, 
and the fourteenth amendment proposed in June of the 
same year, further define and enforce the rights, privi- 
leges, immunities, and indirectly the right to vote, of 
citizens in the different States ; while the fifteenth 
amendment positivel}^ forbids the denial of the right 
to vote to the freedmen. 

[Clause 2.] "A person charged in any State with 
treason, felony, or other crime, who shall flee from 
justice, and be found in another State, shall, on de- 
mand of the executive authority of the State from 
which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the 
State having jurisdiction of the crime." 

In a statute passed by Congress in 1793, regulating 
the form in which the demand is to be made for such 
a fugitive as is here described, the phrase " charged 
with " is regarded as having a technical, legal meaning, 
and hence that the agent through whom the demand 
is made by the governor must produce a dul}^ authen- 
ticated copy of the indictment, or of an aflSdavit before 
a magistrate making the charge. 

On the presentation of such a document to the gov- 
ernor of the State whither the fugitive has fled, he is 



Miscellaneous Provisions. 127 

required to arrest and deliver him to such agent for 
trial in the State from which he fled. But, as petty 
offences or misdemeanors are not " crimes," the of- 
fender need not be surrendered for such. So, also, 
there would seem to be no obligation to surrender the 
fugitive where the demand is made in order to force 
from him the payment of a private claim rather than 
for pubhc justice, or to secure his person for a different 
purpose from that alleged in the demand of the gov- 
ernor (see Judge Cooley's article, "Princeton Re- 
view," January, 1879). 

[Clause 3.] "No person held to service or labor in 
one State, under the laws thereof, escaping into an- 
other, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation 
therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but 
shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom 
such service or labor may be due." 

This clause, like the system which it was designed 
to protect, — for long 3'ears a bone of contention be- 
tween the North and the South, — has lost its impor- 
tance, and well-nigh its meaning, by the abolition of 
slavery. 

SECTION 3. 

[Clause 1.] "New States maybe admitted by the 
Congress into this Union ; but no new State shall be 
formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other 
State, nor any State be formed by the junction of 
two or more States or parts of States, without the 



128 Constitution of the United States. 

consent of the legislatures of the States concerned, 
as well as of the Congress." 

The power here granted Congress for admitting new 
States to the Union is unlimited, except as to States 
' formed from or within States already existing, which 
are not to be formed or admitted without their consent * 
and the practice has been as unlimited as the grant. 
New States have been admitted into the Union, not 
onl}^ from the territory originally acquired by our treaty 
with Great Britain at the close of the Revolution, but 
from that acquired since, whether by purchase, as b}' 
the Louisiana purchase ; by conquest and purchase, 
as in the case of California ; or by treaty, as in the 
case of Texas. The power to admit new States has 
been considered as implying the power to acquire them, 
or the territory for them. And although States formed 
from other States are not to be admitted, yet the State 
of West Virginia, formed from the original State of 
Virginia, was admitted to the Union in 1863, without 
the consent of the original State ; since that State, 
having rebelled against the general government, had 
lost all its rights under the Constitution. 

The onty conditions precedent to the admission of a 
new State have generally been, that it should at least 
have a number of inhabitants sufficient to entitle it to a 
representative in Congress, and have formed and sub- 
mitted to Congress a Constitution republican in form. 
When a territory is admitted to the Union as a State, 
it acquires at once the usual powers of local govern- 
ment belonging to the other States. 



Miscellaneous Provisions. 129 

[Clause 2.] " The Congress shall have power to dis- 
pose of and make all needful rules and regulations 
respecting the territory or other property belonging to 
the United States ; and nothing in this Constitution 
shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the 
United States, or of any particular State." 

The territory of the United States is here placed 
under the immediate care and supervision of the gen- 
eral government ; and Congress is authorized to make 
all needful rules and regulations in regard to it, or any 
other property of the United States. Under this 
clause Congress, from time to time, establishes new 
Territories, and erects territorial gOA^ernments in them, 
consisting of a governor, judges, and other officers, ap- 
pointed by the President ; and authorizes them to elect 
legislatures of their own, and send each a delegate to 
Congress, who may take part in the debates, but can- 
not vote. The " other propert}^ " of the United States 
is chiefly in the District of Columbia, or in docks, ar- 
senals, light-houses, custom-houses, &c., and is pro- 
vided for in Art. I., Sect. 8,17. The "claims " spoken 
of were supposed rights to territory or other public 
propertj^ 

The whole extent of our domain is now formed into 
States or Territories ; there being thirty-eight of the 
former and ten of the latter, of which eight are organ- 
ized. All these States and Territories, except the 
thirteen States which originally formed the Union, 
have been formed from territory almost entirely un- 
occupied at the time of the Revolution. A part of this 



130 Constitution of the United States. 

territor}' — claimed hy New York, Virginia, Massachu- 
setts, and Connecticut, but ceded b}^ them to the United 
States — was within the treat}^ boundaries of the coun- 
try, and known as the North-western Territor}^ ; and the 
rest has been acquired since that time chiefl}^ by the 
Louisiana purchase, by the cession of Florida by Spain, 
and b}' the conquest of California from Mexico. These 
States and Territories cover a surface of about 3,700,000 
square miles. 

Under this clause Congress has provided for the sur- 
vey and sale of the public lands in the Territories of the 
United States. They are laid out in ranges of town- 
ships six miles square, and these are divided for the 
convenience of purchasers into sections down to 
sixteenths, or fort3^-acre lots, and at first are offered 
for sale at public auction at not less than a dollar and 
twentj-five cents per acre. If not sold within ten 
3^ears, they are offered to actual settlers at a less price, 
regularly diminishing every five years. Under thp 
same authority, also. Congress, from time to time, has 
made grants of land for railroads, iis bounties for 
militarv service, and for other purposes. 

SECTION 4. 

[Clause 1.] " The United States shall guarantee to 
every State in this Union a republican form of govern- 
ment, and shall protect each of them against invasion, 
and, on application of the legislature (or of the execu- 
tive when the legislature cannot be convened) , against 
domestic violence.** 



Miscellaneous Provisions. 131 

The essential characteristics of a republican govern- 
ment are : 1st, That ever}^ office in the gift of the na- 
tion is open to the competition of everj^ loyal citizen 
of mature age. This is not the case in a monarchy, 
where the chief office in the nation is confined to a 
single family, and a large proportion of the other 
offices to a privileged class ; while, in an aristocracy, 
the more important offices are all confined to a privi- 
leged class. 2d, That, while it is not necessarj^ that 
CA'er}' citizen should be allowed to A^ote for pubhc 
officers, none should be denied the right, except for 
reasons which applj^ to all classes of society ; and that 
such as are allowed the right chould be permitted to 
cast their votes for such candidates as they choose. 
3d, That the officials thus chosen should be regarded 
as the servants and representatives of the people, and 
hence should be elected with sufficient frequency to keep 
up the sense of responsibihty to their constituents ; so 
that the government shall be that of the i^eople, con- 
ducted b}^ representatives expressing their will. 

With some deviations and inconsistencies, our na- 
tional government answers to this description. As 
Judge Stor}' saj's (Com. 269), "The Constitution is 
strictl}' republican ; for all its powers are derived 
directlj" or indirectlj^ from the people, and are ad- 
ministered b}^ functionaries holding then' offices during 
pleasure, or for a limited period, or during good be- 
havior." Now, it is such a government as this, in 
substance, that the United States are required to se- 
cure to ever}^ State. And of course Congress is au- 
thorized to pass ' ' all the laws which are necessary and 
proper " to secure this end. 



132 Constitution of the United States. 

In order to insure the permanence of a republican 
government in the States, it is here further provided, 
that the general government shall protect each of them 
from invasion, and, on application of the legislature or 
of the executive, from domestic violence ; as from that 
of a mob, for instance, as in the late railroad riots in 
sfeveral of the States. 

ARTICLE V. 

[Clause 1.] "The Congress, whenever two-thirds 
of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose 
amendments to this Constitution, or, on the apphcation 
of the legislatures of two-thirds of the several States, 
shall call a convention for proposing amendments, 
which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and 
purposes as part of this Constitution when ratified by 
the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States, 
or by conventions in three-fourths thereof, as the one 
or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by 
the Congress : provided, that no amendment, which maj^ 
be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred 
and eight, shall in any mauner affect the first and fourth 
clauses in the ninth section of the first article ; and 
that no State, without its consent, shall be deprived of 
its equal suffrage in the Senate." 

Congress has no direct power to alter the Constitu- 
tion of the United States, as the Parliament of Great 
Britain has to alter the Constitution of England, by a 



Miscellaneous Provisions. 133 

legislative act. But, whenever two-thirds of the mem- 
bers of each house deem it necessary, Congress is 
required to propose amendments to the States for their 
approval, or, on the apphcation of the legislatures of 
two-thirds of the States, to call a general convention 
of the people for proposing amendments ; which amend- 
ments are to become valid as parts of the Constitution, 
and of course binding uj^on all the States, when ratified 
by the legislatures of three-fourths of the States, or by 
conventions in three-fourths of them. The second of 
these methods of proposing and ratifying amendments 
is so inconvenient, that oulj' the first method has been 
followed in practice. Fifteen amendments have been 
thus adopted ; twelve of them in the early histor}^ of 
the countr}^, and the last three during our late cWil 
war. Acts of Congi'ess proposing amendments of the 
Constitution to the States, not being enactments of 
laws, do not require the approval of the President. 

Of the two restrictions here imposed upon the power 
of Congress to alter the Constitution, the first has been 
removed by the lapse of time ; but the latter is perma- 
nent in its nature. The smaller States insisted upon 
ha^dng an equal representation in the Senate with the 
larger ones, as a condition for ratifying the Constitu- 
tion ; otherwise they would have been wholly at the 
mercy of the larger States. 

ARTICLE yi. 

[Clause 1.] "All debts contracted and engagements 
entered into, before the adoption of this Constitution, 
shall be as valid against the United States under this 
Constitution as under the Confederation." 



134 Constitution of the United States. 

By well-established principles of law, every corpora- 
tion or government which legally succeeds to another 
assumes all its duties and obligations. The debts of 
the Confederation, therefore, would have been assumed 
of course ; but how about the debts of the revolutionary 
struggle, when there could hardl}^ be said to have been 
even the elements of an established government ? And 
then, too, the engagements were intended, doubtless, to 
include all preceding treaty stipulations with foreign 
nations, and especiall}", as is generally supposed, the 
stipulations contained in the ordinance of 1787 in re- 
gard to the North-west Territory, securing religious 
libert}^ and exemption from slavery in all that region. 
The binding force of some of these might possibly 
have been disputed. By this clause, however, the gov- 
ernment full}^ assumes all these obligations, and under- 
takes to see that they are fulfilled. 

[Clause 2.] "This Constitution, and the laws of 
the United States which shall be made in pursuance 
thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be made, 
under the authority of the United States, shall be the 
supreme law of the land ; and the judges in every State 
shall be bound thereby, any thing in the constitution or 
laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding." 

By Article III., Sect. 2, Clause 1, all cases arising 
under the laws of the United States are to be tried by 
the United States' courts. The ultimate authority ac- 
cording to which such cases are to be decided b}^ these 
courts is that of the Constitution. The case may be 



Miscellaneous Provisions. 135 

decided to come under the law ; but the law Itself may 
be decided to be inconsistent with the provisions of the 
Constitution, and hence not to have been "made in 
pursuance thereof." Such a law, therefore, at least 
under the application in question, is unconstitutional ; 
for the United States' courts decide the constitutionality 
of laws only as far as tested by actual cases adjudi- 
cated b}^ them. Their function is not monitory or ad- 
visory, but strictly judicial. 

The Constitution, therefore, and the constitutional 
laws and treaties of the United States, are the supreme 
law of the land, and annul all State constitutions and 
laws as far as they conflict with them. And not only 
so, but the State judges are required to sustain the 
United States' Constitution, laws, or authority, as 
against any State, constitution, law, or authorit3^ Ac- 
cordingl}', Congi'ess has provided for an appeal to the 
Supreme Court of the United States in the case of an 
adverse decision in the highest court of a State on a 
supposed conflict between a State and a United States' 
law or authorit}^ (see Art. III., Sect. 2, 3), and makes 
that court the final arbitrator. There can be no doubt 
that the Constitution makes the general government 
entirety independent and supreme in every State within 
the compass of its powers, and all State governments 
and laws subordinate to it within that compass. What 
language could make this point clearer ? 

[Clause 3.] " The senators and representatives be- 
fore mentioned, and the members of the several State 
legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both 
of the United States and of the several States, shall be 



136 Constitution of the United States, 

bound by oath or affirmation to support this Constitu- 
tion ; but no religious test shall ever be required as a 
qualification to any office or public trust undter the 
United States." 

•Executive officers here must include military officers, 
which, in strictness, are executive. This clause is an 
additional proof, if any were required, to show the 
entire independence and supremacy of the United 
States' government under the Constitution, — all func- 
tionaries, whether state or national, are required to 
swear fidelity to it. The form of the oath, of course, 
is to be prescribed by Congress, while that for the 
President is prescribed in the Constitution. What has 
been called the " iron-clad oath " was passed in 1862, 
and required a denial of all participation in or sympa- 
thy with the rebellion. 

ARTICLE VII. 

' ' The ratification of the conventions of nine States 
shall be sufficient for the estabhshment of this Consti- 
tution between the States so ratifying the same." 

There were thirteen States which had been united 
under the Confederation, and which had acted together 
through the revolutionary struggle, all of which finally 
ratified the Constitution, though North Carolina and 
Ehode Island did so ver}^ tardil}', — the former about a 
year and a half, the latter about two j^ears, after more 
than the required number to establish the Union had 
ratified it; the former in November, 1789, and the 



Miscellaneous Provisions, 137 

latter in May, 1790. Even New York and Virginia 
held off from ratifjdng it till it became evident that 
New Hampshire would do so, and thus secure the 
Union. After this was secured, a natural pressure 
brought in the reluctant States, that they might not find 
themselves "left out in the cold." If they had not 
joined the Union b}^ ratif^dng the Constitution, they 
must have been regarded and treated as foreign and 
inferior nations. 

' ' Done in Convention by the unanimous consent of 
the States present the seventeenth day of September 
in the 3^ear of our Lord one thousand seven hundred 
and eighty-seven, and of the Independence of the 
United States of America the twelfth. In witness 
whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names." 

This is the attestation of the Convention to the Con- 
stitution as it stood originally. It was signed by 
George Washington, President of the Convention, and 
by one or more delegates (thirty-eight in all) from each 
of the thirteen States, except Rhode Island, which had 
not even appointed a delegate to attend the Convention 
for forming the Constitution. The Convention had 
accomplished its work, considering the difficult}^ and 
L^xcellence of the performance, in a wonderfull}' short 
period of time ; viz., in a little more than four months 
(from May 14 to Sept. 17, 1787). Sept. 17, 1788, 
just one year from this time, the Union was declared 
complete by the ratifications of eleven States ; and the 
first Congress under the Constitution assembled in New- 



138 Constitution of the United States. 

York City on the following 4th of March, 1789, where 
it continued for two sessions, and then returned to 
Philadelphia, where all the previous Congresses had 
been held, except those of the last four years of the 
Confederation, which were held in New York. 



DIVISION X. 

AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION. 

ARTICLE I. 

" Congress shall make no law respecting an estab- 
lishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise 
thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech or of the 
press ; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, 
and to petition the government for a redress of griev- 
ances." * 

This and the next nine amendments are of the nature 
of a Bill of Rights, taken partly from the Enghsh Bill 
of Rights^ adopted at the accession of William and 
Mar}^, and partly from such rights as the colonies had 
had occasion to assert in their complaints of the oppres- 
sions of England while they were in a colonial condi- 
tion.^ They were proposed in 1789, at the first meeting 
of Congress in New York, in order to meet objections 
and quiet fears expressed in several of the States at 
the adoption of the Constitution. The fears were, that 
Congress, by a too liberal interpretation of certain 

1 See Hallam, Const. Hist. England, vol. iii. p. 105. 
' See the Declaration of Independence. 



Amendments to the Constitution. 139 

powers granted them, or at least implied in the Consti- 
tution (particularly in Clauses 1 and 18 of Section 
8 of Article I.), might claim too wide a field for legis- 
lation, and interfere with private and local affairs in 
the States. 

A candid consideration of the distrusted clauses, 
however, shows these fears to have been comparativol}^ 
groundless. They certainly do not authorize legisla- 
tion by Congress to any thing like the dangerous extent 
implied in the restrictions embodied in the amend- 
ments. The general government, as established in the 
Constitution, without the amendments, is evidently a 
limited, and a definitely limited, government, — a bill of 
rights in itself, — and touched at very few points the 
private rights and privileges of the people. On the con- 
trary, in the election of the President and members of 
Congress, as well as in other respects, the peoi)le of the 
different States have important national rights, which 
are wholly unprotected against State abuse in the Con- 
stitution, except b}" the more recently added fourteenth 
and fifteenth amendments. 

We have alread}^ seen (Art. VI., 3) that no reli- 
gious test can be required as a qualification for office 
under the United States' Government ; and here it is 
further required that Congress shall not by law estab- 
lish (i.e., recognize and provide for the support of) any 
particular form of religion, nor prohibit the free exer- 
cise of any. Here we have the precise doctrine of Roger 
Williams, — a complete separation of Church and State, 
and prohibition of persecution for religious opinions 
and their exercise. Their free exercise is not to be 
interfered with by the government, "unless," in the 



140 Constitution of the United States. 

words of Williams, "they disturb the civil peace." 
Religion must not be privileged to violate in practice 
the laws of the land, or of morality and social order. 

As to freedom of speech and of the press, as well as 
the right of petitioning the government for the redress 
of grievances, these were old English rights estab- 
lished in the Bill of Rights ; and they are here secured 
to citizens of the United States as far as the general 
government is concerned, but not against the action of 
the State governments, which, as far as these amend- 
ments are concerned, may violate either of them, and 
even establish a religion in their States. 

ARTICLE n. 
" A well-regulated militia being necessary to the 
security of a free State, the right of the people to keep 
and bear arms shall not be infringed." 

The militia being a citizen-soldier}^, enrolled only for 
occasional military drill and home service, naturally 
retain their patriotic feelings, and are much more likely 
to remain true to the rights and liberties of the country 
than a standing arm3% And a militia system, of course, 
is possible only where the people are allowed to bear 
arms. These truths had been well established both in 
English history, and in the colonial history of the 
States. 

ARTICLE III. 

" No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in 
any house without the consent of the owner, nor in 
time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law." 



Amendments to the Constitution, 141 

Of the arbitrary and compulsory quartering of troops 
upon citizens, some of the colonies had had bitter 
experience ; and there had been like experience in the 
history of England. It was one of the articles in the 
impeachment of Stafford, that he had quartered troops 
on the people of Ireland, in order to compel their obe- 
dience to his unlawful requisitions. It was also an 
important point in the "Petition of Rights," so reluc- 
tantly assented to by Charles the First. 

As by the Constitution the general government is 
intrusted with the entire control of troops and armies, 
the restrictions in this and the preceding amendment 
upon the action of that government are highly proper 
and important. 

ARTICLE IV. 
" The right of the people to be secure in their per- 
sons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable 
searches and seizures, shall not be violated ; and no 
warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, sup- 
ported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describ- 
ing the place to be searched, and the persons or things 
to be seized. 

The allusion here is to what is known in Enghsh his- 
tory as " general search warrants," and which were so 
justly assailed and reprobated by James Otis under the 
royal government of Massachusetts before the Revolu- 
tion. Such warrants authorized the officer to search 
any suspected place, and seize any suspected person, 
without naming any particular place or person, or stat- 



142 Constitution of the United States, 

ing any ground for the suspicion on which he was to 
act. All such warrants are here prohibited, and none 
are allowed to be issued b}^ a United States' magis- 
trate without setting forth a probable cause for the 
search and seizure, sworn to by the person demanding 
them, and particularly describing the place to be 
searched, and the person or things to be seized. This 
leaves every one reasonably secure in his person, 
papers, and effects, and makes his "house his castle, 
as well for defence against injury as for repose.'* 

ARTICLE V. 

*' No person shall be held to answer for a capital or 
otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment 
or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising 
in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in 
actual service in time of war or public danger ; nor 
shall an}^ person be subject for the same offence to be 
twice put in jeopardy of life or hmb ; nor shall be com- 
pelled in any criminal case to be a witness against him- 
self, nor be deprived of life, libert}^, or property, with- 
out due process of law ; nor shall private property be 
taken for public use without just compensation." 

The rights which the general government are here 
prohibited from infringing are : (1) The right of one, 
unless in the army or navy, or militia in actual service 
in time of war, to be tried for infamous crime only on 
presentment or indictment by a grand jury ; (2) To be 
exempt from more than one trial for the same offence ; 



Amendments to the Constitution. 143 

(3) To be exempt from being a witness against himself 
in a criminal case ; (4) To life, liberty, and property, 
till deprived of them by due process of law (by the 
fourteenth amendment the States also are prohibited 
from infringing this right) ; (5) To just compensation 
for propert}^ taken for public use. 

An ' ' indictment " is a bill of accusation against a 
supposed criminal, presented to the grand jury by a 
prosecuting officer, and, after examination of witnesses, 
allowed b}^ them. It is onl}^ when the bill is thus 
allowed b}^ the jury that the criminal can be brought to 
trial. A "presentment " is the presenting of a case for 
trial by a grand jury from their own knowledge, and of 
their own accord, where no bill of indictment has been 
submitted to them by a prosecuting officer. In the 
army and navy, and in the militia when in service in 
time of war, trials are by court-martial, without the 
form of indictment. 

When a criminal is tried a second time, on a motion 
for a new trial or on a writ of error, there is always a 
new element in the case, and he is not considered as 
again put in jeopardy for the same offence. But in no 
case can the criminal, by torture or other forcible 
means, be compelled to testify against himself. 

As one, by this article, is protected from being con- 
victed of crime, except by the regular application of 
the laws to his case, so he cannot, except by a like 
application of the laws thi'ough the courts, be deprived 
of life, liberty, or property. And, while private prop- 
erty can in no case be taken for private use without the 
consent of the owner, it cannot be taken for public use, 
as for roads and the like, without just compensation ; 



144 Constitution of the United States. 

which compensation is usually determined by a jury 
who have examined the property, and given each party 
an opportunity to be fully heard in the case. 

ARTICLE yi. 

" In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall 
enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial by an im- 
partial jury of the State and district wherein the crime 
shall have been committed, which district shall have 
been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed 
of the nature and cause of the accusation ; to be con- 
fronted with the witnesses against him ; to have com- 
pulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, 
and to have the assistance of counsel for his defence." 

This article provides against such dilatory, irregular, 
arljitrary, inconvenient, and expensive trials — often 
attended by transportation to distant scenes, away 
from interested witnesses and defenders — as were so 
bitterly and justly complained of in the colonial history 
of the States under the government of Great Britain. 
The amendment was designed as supplementary to the 
third clause of the second section of Article III. of 
the Constitution. 

The trial is to be speedy ; public (that it may be 
more likely to be fair) ; by an impartial jury ; as near 
home as ma}^ be (viz., either in the State or the estab- 
lished judicial district in which the crime is committed) ; 
to be for a crime definitely made known to the accused 
(that he ma}- know what charge he is to meet) ; to be 



Amendments to the Constitution. 145 

supported on the side of the prosecution by witnesses 
in the presence of the accused, and which therefore he 
may hear and challenge by his scrutiny ; and on his 
side to be supported by such witnesses as he may de- 
mand, as well as by the assistance of counsel in his 
defence. 

ARTICLE YII. 
"In suits at common law, where the value in con- 
troversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial 
^y jury shall be preserved ; and no fact tried by a jury 
shall be otherwise re-examined in any court of the 
United States, than according to the rules of the com- 
mon law." 

In suits at common law, facts can be re-examined 
only on a motion for a new trial, or on a writ of error, 
and always b}^ a jury. It is here provided that even 
civil cases, where the amount in controversy exceeds 
twenty dollars, shall be re-tried in a United States* 
court only in this way. For the reason for this re- 
quirement, see Art. III., Sect. 2, 2. 

ARTICLE VIII. 

" Excessive bail shaU not be required, nor excessive 
fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments in- 
flicted." 

These prohibitions are just as they stand in the Eng- 
lish Bill of Rights. 



146 Constitution of tJie United States. 

ARTICLE IX. 
"The enumeration in the Constitution of certain 
rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage 
others retained by the people." 

ARTICLE X. 
" The powers not delegated to the United States by 
the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are 
reserved to the States respectivel}^, or to the people." 

These two amendments summarily closed the original 
list of restrictions on the general government : the first 
claiming that the rights protected by the foregoing 
amendments, and the others enumerated in the Consti- 
tution, are not to be taken as all the rights belonging to 
the people ; and the second, that all powers not granted 
to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited 
by it to the States, are reserved to the States, or the 
people, i.e., — all governmental powers, not surely the 
power to destroy the government by denying and nulli- 
fying the rights just granted it in the Constitution. 
This is a revolutionary power, to be carried out only by 
force. 

While it is very clear from these amendments, and 
other parts of the Constitution, that the government 
here constituted is one of limited rights and powers, it 
is equally certain that it is established as a general gov- 
ernment over the States, and has the right to exist as 
such, and to the unimpeded exercise of the powers 
granted it. Thus much is necessarily involved in its 



Amendments to the Constitution. 147 

having been created with independent powers of action 
in national affairs : that sphere is its own, and it must 
keej) out all intruders. The States cannot be allowed 
to usurp the powers granted to the United States, an}' 
more than the latter can be allowed to usurp those 
reserved b}' the States. 

And, further, if all powers not granted the general 
government, nor prohibited to the States, belong to the 
States, so all necessary governmental i>owers prohibited 
to the States belong to the general government, though 
not expressly granted to it ; as, for instance, the right 
to make paper money temporarity a legal tender, if 
necessary in order to preserve the government from 
destruction. This, and some other essential govern- 
mental powers, not expressly delegated to the United 
States, are prohibited to the States, and hence must 
vest, as implied powers^ in the national government 
which has charge of the national interests, to be exer- 
cised in extreme cases. And why may not certain 
other sovereign powers essential for the general good, 
and which from the nature of the case the States can- 
not exercise, though not expressly prohibited to them 
nor delegated to the United States, be exercised by the 
general government ; such, for instance, as acquiring 
for the general good territory by treaty or purchase ? 

ARTICLE XI. 
" The judicial power of the United States shall not 
be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity 
commenced or prosecuted against one of the United 
States by citizens of another State, or by citizens or 
subjects of any foreign State.'* 



148 Constitution of the United States, 

For the reason for passing this eleventh amendment, 
see Art. III., Sect. 2, 1. 

The twelfth amendment, stating the method of elect- 
ing the President, is transferred to Article II. 

ARTICLE XIII. 

' ' Section 1 . Neither slavery nor involuntary servi- 
tude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the 
party shall have been dul}^ convicted, shall exist within 
the United States, or anyplace subject to their jurisdic- 
tion. 

" Sect. 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this 
article by appropriate legislation." 

This thirteenth amendment, embodied in a few sim- 
ple words, has a mighty import. It set at libert}^ some 
four millions of slaves, and effectuall}^ excludes aU 
involuntary service from our territorj^, whether em- 
braced within the boundaries of the several States, or 
under the direct control of the general government. 
To secure this result, the national government is ex- 
pressly empowered to enforce it. It was the fruit of 
the civil war, and was proposed and adopted in 1865. 
While the original amendments (i.e., the first ten) were 
intended as a bill of rights to protect the people of the 
States against the general government, this and the 
two following amendments are a bill of rights to be 
enforced hy the general government, in order to pro- 
tect, in a few important points, the people of the States 
against their own governments. 



Amendments to the Constitution. 149 



ARTICLE XIV. 

* ' Section 1 . All persons born or naturalized in the 
United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, 
are citizens of the United States, and of the State 
wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce 
any law which shall abridge the privileges or immuni- 
ties of citizens of the United States ; nor shall any 
State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, 
without due process of law, nor deny to any person 
within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. 

'^ Sect. 2. Representatives shall be apportioned 
among the several States according to their respective 
numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each 
State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the 
right to vote at any election for the choice of electors 
for President and Vice-President of the United States, 
representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial 
officers of a State, or the members of the legislature 
thereof, is denied to anj^ of the male inhabitants of 
such State being twenty-one years of age and citizens 
of the United States, or in an3" way abridged, except 
for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis 
of representation therein shall be reduced in the pro- 
portion which ' the number of such male citizens shall 
bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one 
years of age in such State. 



150 Constitution of the United States, 

" Sect. 3. No person shall be a senator or represen- 
tative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice- 
President, or hold any office, civil or military, under 
the United States, or under any State, who, having 
previously taken an oath as a member of Congress, or 
as an officer of the United States, or as a member of 
any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial 
officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the 
United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or 
rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to 
the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of 
two-thirds of each house, remove such disability. 

" Sect. 4. The validity of the public debt of the 
United States, authorized by law, including debts in- 
curred for payment of pensions and bounties for ser- 
vices in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not 
be questioned. But neither the United States nor any 
State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation in- 
curred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the 
United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipa- 
tion of any slave ; but all such debts, obhgations, and 
claims shall be held illegal and void. 

"Sect. 5. The Congress shall have power to en- 
force, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this 
article." 

This fourteenth amendment is a very important one, 
and consists of several sections. It acts directly upon 



Amendments to the Constitution, 151 

the States, and imposes upon them the most important 
restrictions. The sections originally proposed were in 
the form of resolutions, known as the " Reconstruction 
Resolutions." After protracted discussion and numer- 
ous amendments, they were finally passed in the form 
of this article, in 1866, by the Thirty-ninth Congress ; 
and their ratification by the revolted States was rigidly 
insisted on as a condition of their return to the Union. 
Having forfeited their rights under the Union, they 
were to regain them only on certain conditions. 

The first section defines citizenship, and prohibits 
any State from making or enforcing any law abridging 
the privileges or immunities of any citizen ; or depriv- 
ing any one of life, liberty, or property, without due 
process of law; or denjdng anyone the equal protec- 
tion of the laws. This section is designed to supple- 
ment and enforce the first clause of the second section 
of the fourth article of the originar Constitution. And 
in April, 1866, two months before the passage of this 
amendment, a comprehensive statute, known as the 
Civil-Rights Bill, was passed to secure the same end. 

There was need that citizenship should receive an 
authoritative definition on account of the somewhat 
loose use of the term "citizen" in the Constitution, 
and especially as there had been an attempt in the Dred 
Scot case to establish a distinction between citizenship 
of a State and citizenship of the United States. They 
are here asserted to be one and the same, and that all 
persons born or naturalized in the United States, and 
subject to its jurisdiction, are citizens of the United 
States, and of the States wherein they reside. 

The second section has reference to the basis of 



152 Constitution of the United States, 

representation in Congress in the different States, with 
special reference to the reconstructed States, which is 
briefly this : States are entitled to representatives in 
Congress according to the number of their inhabitants ; 
but, if in any State male citizens of twenty-one 3^ears 
of age are denied the right to vote for certain State or 
United States' officers which are named, the basis of 
representation in the same shall be reduced in the pro- 
portion which such citizens bear to the whole number 
of male citizens of twenty-one years of age in the 
State. 

This rule of apportionment, it is obvious, can be 
apphed and enforced only when a certain class or 
classes (as colored people for instance) are disfran- 
chised by a law of the State. In no other way can it 
be known beforehand what reduction should be made in 
the basis of representation. No account evidently can 
be taken of individuals excluded from voting on ac- 
count of non-residence, non-payment of taxes, or real 
or fictitious crimes, or, what is more important, by 
intimidation or violence. 

The third section ordains, that no person having 
taken an official oath to support the Constitution of the 
United States, as required in Art. VI., 3, who after- 
wards engaged in rebellion, shall again hold such office, 
or be an elector of the President of the United States, 
unless pardoned b}- a two-thirds vote of each house of 
Congress. 

The fourth section secures the public debt of the 
United States, including that incurred in suppressing 
rebellion, from repudiation, and prohibits the payment, 
either by the United States or any State, of all debts, 



Amendments to the Constitution. 153 

and claims for losses in slaves, incurred in support of 
rebellion against the United States. To which, it is 
now seen, should have been added, " or claims for 
losses of any other property by disloyal persons in the^ 
States in rebellion,'' U i^ ^ h-^xl'^ Oh ^xA^ 

# #?i>L i * ARTICLE XV. ^ 

*' Section 1. The right of citizens of the United 

States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the 

United States, or by any State, on account of race, 

color, or previous condition of servitude. 

" Sect. 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce 

this article by appropriate legislation." 

This is the only absolute restriction in the Constitu- 
tion on the power of the States to control the franchise 
among their citizens. While the second section of the 
fourteenth amendment implies that some may be denied 
the privilege of voting on a certain condition, this 
amendment absolutely forbids, whether by State or 
United States' government, the disfranchisement of 
colored citizens as a class. If any such are disfran- 
chised, it must be for other cause than their color or 
former condition of servitude. This privilege may not 
avail the freedmen much for the present ; but I am quite 
sure it will, though through much tribulation, in the 
end. Ignorant and liable as they now are to be intimi- 
dated and deceived, they will ultimately learn the 
power which the ballot gives them, and how to use it. 
In time leaders are sure to arise to defend their rights, 
and avail themselves of their votes. 



APPENDIX. 



I. 



THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, ADOPTED 
BY CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776. 

A DECLARATlOlSr BY THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE IHSnTED STATES 
OF AMERICA EN" CONGRESS ASSEBIBLED. 

When", in the course of human events, it becomes necessary 
for one people to dissolve the political hands which have con- 
nected them with another, and to assume, among the powers 
of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws 
of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to 
the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the 
causes which impel them to the separation. 

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are cre- 
ated equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator with cer- 
tain unalienable rights ; that among these are life, liberty, and 
the pursuit of happiness ; that, to secure these rights, govern- 
ments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers 
from the consent of the governed ; that, whenever any form of 
government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right 
of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new 
government, laying its foundation on such principles, and 
organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem 
most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, 
indeed, will dictate that governments long established should 

155 



156 Appendix. 

not be changed for light and transient causes; and, accord- 
ingly, all experience hath shown that mankind are more dis- 
posed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right them- 
selves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. 
But, when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing 
invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them 
under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to 
throw off such government, and to provide new guards for 
their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance 
of these colonies, and such is now the necessity which con- 
strains them to alter their former systems of government. The 
history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of 
repeated injuries and usurpations, all having, in direct object, 
the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these States. 
To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world : — 

He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and 
necessary for the public good. 

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate 
and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation 
till his assent should be obtained ; and, when so suspended, he 
has utterly neglected to attend to them. 

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of 
large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish 
the right of representation in the legislature; a right inesti- 
mable to them, and formidable to tyrants only. 

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, 
uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public 
records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance 
with his measures. 

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly for op- 
posing, with manly firmness, his invasions on the rights of 
the people. 

He has refused, for a long time after such dissolutions, to 
cause others to be elected, whereby the legislative powers, in- 
capable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large 
for their exercise ; the State remaining in the mean time ex- 
posed to all the danger of invasion from without, and con- 
vulsions within. 

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these 



The Declaration of Independence. 157 

States ; for that purpose, obstructing the laws for naturaliza- 
tion of foreigners, refusing to pass others to encourage their 
migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropria- 
tions of lands. 

He has obstructed the administration of justice by refusing 
his assent to laws, for establishing judiciary powers. 

He has made judges dependent on his will alone for the 
tenure of their oflSce, and the amount and payment of their 
salaries. 

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither 
swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their sub- 
stance. 

He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies, 
without the consent of 'Our legislature. 

He has affected to render the military independent of, and 
superior to, the civil power. 

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction 
foreign to our Constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws : 
giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation, — 

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us ; 

For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment, for 
any murders they should commit on the inhabitants of these 
States ; 

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world; 

For imposing taxes on us without our consent ; 

For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of trial by 
jury; 

For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended 
offences ; 

For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neigh- 
boring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, 
nid enlarging its boundaries, so as to render it at once an 
example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute 
rule into these colonies ; 

For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable 
laws, and altering, fundamentally, the powers of our govern- 
ments ; 

For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring them- 
selves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases what- 
soever. 



158 ^ Appendix. 

He has abdicated government here by declaring us out of 
his protection, and waging war against us. 

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our 
towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. 

He is, at this time, transporting large armies of foreign 
mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and 
tyranny, already begun, with circumstances of cruelty and 
perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and 
totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation. 

He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on the 
high seas, to bear arms against their country, to become the 
executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall them- 
selves by their hands. 

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has 
endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the 
merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an 
undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions. 

In every stage of these oppressions we have j)etitioned for 
redress in the most humble terms: our repeated petitions 
have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose 
character is thus marked by every act which may define a 
tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. 

Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British 
brethren. 

We have warned theih, from time to time, of attempts made 
by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction 
over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of 
our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to 
their native justice and magnaminity, and we have conjured 
them, by the ties of our common kindred, to disavow these 
usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections 
and correspondence. They, too, have been deaf to the voice 
of justice and cpnsanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce 
in the necessity which denounces our separation, and hold 
them as we hold the rest of mankind, — enemies in war, in 
peace, friends. 

We, therefore, the representatives of the United States 
OF America in General Congress assembled, appealing to 
the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our 



The Declaration of Independence. 159 

intentions, do, in the name and by the authority of the good 
people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That 
these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and 
independent States ; that they are absolved from all allegiance 
to the British crown, and that all political connection between 
them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, 
totally dissolved; and that, as feee aistd ustdepejstdent 
States, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, 
contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts 
and things which IjSTDepejSTDEKT States may of right do. 
And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance 
on the protection of DIVINE PEOYIDENCE, we mutually 
pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred 
honor. 

[The foregoing declaration was, by order of Congress, en- 
grossed, and signed by the following members : — ] 

JOB.1^ HAjS'COCK. 

New Haimpshtre. — Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, 
Matthew Thornton. 

Massachusetts Bay. — Samuel Adams, John Adams, 
Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry. 

Ehode ISLAiSfD. — Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery. 

Coxxecticut. — Eoger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, Wil- 
liam Williams, Oliver Wolcott. 

Kew York. — William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis 
Lewis, Lewis Morris. 

New Jersey. — Eichard Stockton, John Witherspoon, 
Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark. 

PejS^nsylvania. — Eobert Morris, Benjamin Eush, Ben- 
jamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, 
George Taylor, James Wilson, George Eoss. 

Delaware. — Caesar Eodney, George Eead, Thomas 
M'Kean. 

Maryland. — Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas 
Stone, Charles Carroll, of Carrollton. 

ViEGiNL^. — George Wythe, Eichard Henry Lee, Thomas 
Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, jun., Francis 
Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton. 



160 Appendix. 

North Caeolina. — William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John 
Penn. 

South Carolina. — Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, 
jun., Thomas Lynch, jun., Arthur Middleton. 

Georgia. — Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton. 

[Copies of the foregoing Declaration were, by a resolution of 
Congress, sent to the several assemblies, conventions, and 
committees, or councils of safety, and to the several com- 
manding officers of the continental troops; and it was also 
proclaimed in each of the United States, and at the head of 
the army.] 



Articles of Confederation* 161 



n. 

ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION. 

To all to whom these presents shall come, we, the undersigned 
Delegates of the States affixed to our names, send greeting : — 

Whereas the Delegates of the United States of America in 
Congress assembled did, on the fifteenth day of November in 
the year of our Lord 1777, and in the second year of the Inde- 
pendence of America, agree to certain Articles of Confedera- 
tion and perpetual Union between the States of New Hamp- 
shire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plan- 
tations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, 
Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Caro- 
lina, and Georgia, in the words following: viz., — 

ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION AND PERPETUAL UNION 
BETWEEN THE STATES OF NEW HAMPSHIRE, MASSACHU- 
SETTS BAT, RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTA- 
TIONS, CONNECTICUT, NEW YORK, NEW JF:RSET, PENN- 
SYLVANIA, DELAWARE, MARYLAND, VIRGINIA, NORTH 
CAROLINA, SOUTH CAROLINA, AND GEORGIA. 

Article I. The style of this confederacy shall be " The 
United States of America." 

Aeticle II. Each State retains its sovereignty, freedom, 
and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, 
which is not by this confederation expressly delegated to the 
United States in Congress assembled. 

Article III. The said States hereby severally enter into a 
firm league of friendship with each other for their common 
defence, the security of their liberties, and their mutual and 
general welfare, binding themselves to assist each other 
against all force offered to or attacks made upon them, or 
any of them, on account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or 
any other pretence whatever. 



162 Appendix, 

AnTiCLE IV. The better to secure and perpetuate mutual 
friendsliip and intercourse among the people of the different 
States in this Union, the free inhabitants of each of these 
States — paupers, vagabonds, and fugitives from justice ex- 
cepted — shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of 
free citizens in the several States ; and the people of each State 
shall have free ingress and regress to and from any other State, 
and shall enjoy therein all the privileges of trade and commerce, 
subject to the same duties, impositions, and restrictions as the 
inhabitants thereof respectively : provided that such restriction 
shall not extend so far as to prevent the removal of property im- 
ported into any State to any other State of which the owner is 
an inhabitant; provided also that no imposition, duties, or 
restriction shall be laid by any State on the property of the 
United States, or either of them. 

If any person guilty of, or charged with, treason, felony, or 
other high misdemeanor in any State, shall flee from justice, 
and be found in any of the United States, he shall, upon de- 
mand of the governor or executive power of the State from 
which he fled, be delivered up and removed to the State hav- 
ing jurisdiction of his offence. 

Full faith and credit shall be given in each of these States to 
the records, acts, and judicial proceedings of the courts and 
magistrates of every other State. 

Abticle V. For the more convenient management of the 
general interest of the United States, delegates shall be annually 
appointed in such manner as the legislature of each State shall 
direct, to meet in Congress on the first Monday in November, 
in every year, with a power reserved to each State to recall its 
delegates, or any of them, at any time within the year, and to 
send others in their stead for the remainder of the year. 

No State shall be represented in Congress by less than two, 
nor by more than seven members; and no person shall be 
capable of being a delegate for more than three years in any 
term of six years ; nor shall any person, being a delegate, be 
capable of holding any office under the United States, for 
which he, or another for his benefit, receives any salary, fees, 
or emolument of any kind. 

Each State shall maintain its own delegates in any meeting 



Articles of Confederation. 163 

of the States, and while they act as members of the commit- 
tee of the States. 

In determining questions in the United Sates in Congress 
assembled, each State shall have one vote. 

Freedom of speech and debate in Congress shall not be im- 
peached or questioned in any court or place out of Congress, 
and the members of Congress shall be protected in their per- 
sons from arrests and imprisonments during the time of their 
going to and from, and attendance on, Congress, except for 
treason, felony, or breach of the peace. 

Article VI. No State, without the consent of the United 
States in Congress assembled, shall send any embassy to, or 
receive any embassy from, or enter into any conference, agree- 
ment, alliance, or treaty with any king, prince, or state ; nor 
shall any person holding any office of profit or trust under the 
United States, or any of them, accept of any present, emolu- 
ment, office, or title of any kind whatever from any king, 
prince, or foreign state ; nor shall the United States in Congress 
assembled, or any of them, grant any title of nobility. 

No two or more States shall enter into any treaty, confeder- 
ation, or alliance whatever between them, without the consent 
of the United States in Congress assembled, specifying accu- 
rately the purposes for which the same is to be entered into, 
and how long it shall continue. 

No State shall lay any imposts or duties, which may inter- 
fere with any stipulations in treaties entered into by the 
United States in Congress assembled with any Mng, prince, or 
state, in pursuance of any treaties already proposed by Con- 
gress to the courts of France and Spain. 

No vessels of war shall be kept up in time of peace by any 
State, except such number only, as shall be deemed necessary 
by the United States in Congress assembled, for the defence of 
such State or its trade ; nor shall any body of forces be kept 
up by any State in time of peace, except such number only, 
as in the judgment of the United States in Congress assem- 
bled, shall be deemed requisite to garrison the forts necessary 
for the defence of such State; but every State shall always 
keep up a well regulated and disciplined militia, sufficiently 
armed and accoutred, and shall provide and have constantly 



164 Appendix. 

ready for use, in public stores, a due immber of field-pieces 
and tents, and a proper quantity of arms, ammunition, and 
camp-equipage. 

No State shall engage in any war without the consent of the 
United States in Congress assembled, unless such State be act- 
ually invaded by enemies, or shall have received certain advice 
of a resolution being formed by some nation of Indians to in- 
vade such State, and the danger is so imminent as not to admit 
of a delay, till the United States in Congress assembled can be 
consulted ; nor shall any State grant commissions to any ships 
or vessels of war, nor letters of marque or reprisal, except it 
be after a declaration of war by the United States in Congress 
assembled, and then only against the kingdom or state and 
the subjects thereof against which war has been so declared, 
and under such regulations as shall be established by the 
United States in Congress assembled, unless such State be 
infested by pirates, in which case vessels of war may be fitted 
out for that occasion, and kept so long as the danger shall con- 
tinue, or until the United States in Congress assembled shall 
determine otherwise. 

Aeticle YII. When land-forces are raised by any State 
for the common defence, all officers of or under the rank of 
colonel shall be appointed by the legislature of each State 
respectively by whom such forces shall be raised, or in such 
manner as such State shall direct, and all vacancies shall be 
filled up by the State which first made the appointment. 

Article YIII. All charges of war, and all other expenses 
that shall be incurred for the common defence or general wel- 
fare, and allowed by the United States in Congress assembled, 
shall be defrayed out of a common treasury, which shall be 
supplied by the several States in proportion to the value of all 
land within each State, granted to or surveyed for any person, 
as such land and the buildings and improvements thereon shall 
be estimated according to such mode as the United States in 
Congress assembled shall from time to time direct and ap- 
point. The taxes for paying that proportion shall be laid and 
levied by the authority and direction of the legislatures of the 
several States within the time agreed upon by the United 
States in Congress assembljed. 



Articles of Confederation. 165 

Article IX. The United States in Congress assembled 
shall have the sole and exclusive right and power of deter- 
mining on peace and war, except in cases mentioned in the 
sixth article; of sending and receiving ambassadors; enter- 
ing into treaties^nd alliances, provided that no treaty of com- 
merce shall be made whereby the legislative power of the 
respective States shall be restrained from imposing such im- 
posts and duties on foreigners as' their own people. are sub- 
jected to, or from prohibiting the exportation or importation 
of any species of goods or commodities whatsoever; of estab- 
lishing rules for deciding, in all cases, what captures on land or 
water shall be legal, and in what manner prizes taken by land 
or naval forces in the service of the United States shall be 
divided or appropriated ; of granting letters of marque and 
reprisal in times of peace ; appointing courts for the trial of 
piracies and felonies committed on the high seas; and estab- 
lishing courts for receiving and determining finally appeals in 
all cases of captures, provided that no member of Congress 
shall be appointed a judge of any of the said courts. 

The United States in Congress assembled shall also be the 
last resort on appeal in all disputes and differences now subsist- 
ing, or that hereafter may arise, between two or more States, 
concerning boundary, jurisdiction, or any other cause what- 
ever; which authority shall always be exercised in the manner 
following : Whenever the legislative or executive authority or 
lawful agent of any State in controversy with another shall 
present a petition to Congress, stating the matter in question 
and praying for a hearing, notice thereof shall be given by 
order of Congress to the legislative or executive authority of 
the other State in controversy, and a day assigned for the 
appearance of the parties by their lawful agents, who shall 
then be directed to appoint by joint consent commissioners or 
judges to constitute a court for hearing and determining the 
matter in question; but, if they cannot agree. Congress shall 
name three persons out of each of the United States, and from 
the list of such persons each party shall alternately strike out 
one, the petitioners beginning, until the number shall be re- 
duced to thirteen ; and from that number hot less than seven, 
nor more than nine, names, as Congress shall direct, shall in 



166 Appendix. 

the presence of Congress be drawn out by lot, and the persons 
whose names shall be so drawn, or any five of them, shall be 
commissioners or judges to hear and finally determine the 
controversy, so always as a major part of the judges who shall 
hear the cause shall agree in the determination ; and if either 
party shall neglect to attend at the day appointed, without 
showing reasons which Congress shall judge suflicient, or 
being present shall refuse to strike, the Congress shall proceed 
to nominate three persons out of each State, and the secretary 
of Congress shall strike in behalf of such party absent or 
refusing; and the judgment and sentence of the court, to be 
appointed in the manner before prescribed, shall be final and 
conclusive; and if any of the parties shall refuse to submit to 
the authority of such court, or to appear or defend their claim 
or cause, the court shall nevertheless proceed to pronounce 
sentence or judgment, which shall in like manner be final 
and decisive, the judgment or sentence and other proceedings 
being in either case transmitted to Congress, and lodged among 
the acts of Congress for the security of the parties concerned : . 
provided that every commissioner, before he sits in judgment, 
shall take an oath, to be administered by one of the judges of 
the supreme or superior court of the State where the cause 
shall be tried, "well and truly to hear and determine the 
matter in question, according to the best of his judgment, 
without favor, affection, or hope of reward;" provided also 
that no State shall be deprived of territory for the benefit of 
the United States. . 

All controversies concerning the private right of soil claimed 
under different grants of two or more States, whose jurisdic- 
tions as they may respect such lands, and the States which 
passed such grants, are adjusted, the said grants or either of 
them being at the same time claimed to have originated ante- 
cedent to such settlement of jurisdiction, shall, on the petition 
of either party to the Congress of the United States, be finally 
determined as near as may be in the same manner as is before 
prescribed for deciding disputes respecting territorial jurisdic- 
tion between different States. 

The United States in Congress assembled shall also have the 
sole and exclusive right and power of regulating the alloy and 



Articles of Confederation, 167 

value of coin struck by their own authority, or by that of the 
respective States ; fixing the standard of weights and meas- 
ures throughout the United States ; regulating the trade and 
managing all affairs with the Indians not members of any of 
the States, provided that the legislative right of any State 
within its own limits be not infringed or violated ; estab- 
lishing or regulating post-offices from one State to another 
throughout all the United States, and exacting such postage 
on the papers passing through the same as may be requisite to 
defray the expenses of the said office ; appointing all officers 
of the land-forces in the service of the United States, except- 
ing regimental officers ; appointing all the officers of the naval 
forces, and commissioning all officers whatever in the service 
of the United States ; making rules for the government and 
regulation of the said land and naval forces, and directing 
their operations. 

The United States in Congress assembled shall have author- 
ity to appoint a committee to sit in the recess of Congress, to 
be denominated '' a committee of the States," and to consist 
of one . delegate from each State ; and to appoint such other 
committees and civil officers as may be necessary for managing 
the general affairs of the United States under their direction ; 
to appoint one of their number to preside, provided that no 
person be allowed to serve in the office of president more than 
one year in any term of three years ; to ascertain the necessary 
sums of money to be raised for the service of the United 
States, and to appropriate and apply the same for defraying 
the public expenses ; to borrow money or emit bills on the 
credit of the United States, transmitting every half-year to the 
respective States an account of the sums of money so borrowed 
or emitted ; to build and equip a navy ; to agree upon the 
number of land-forces, and to make requisitions from each 
State for its quota in proportion to the number of white in- 
habitants in such State, which requisition shall be binding ; 
and thereupon the legislature of each State shall appoint the 
regimental officers, raise the men, and clothe, arm, and equip 
them in a soldier-like manner, at the expense of the United 
States ; and the officers and men so clothed, armed, and 
equipped shall march to the place appointed, and within the 



168 ' Appendix, 

time agreed on, by the United States in Congress assembled : 
but if the United States in Congress assembled shall, on con- 
sideration of circumstances, judge proper that any State should 
not raise men, or should raise a smaller number than its quota, 
and that any other State should raise a greater number of men 
than the quota thereof, such extra number shall be raised, 
oflficered, clothed, armed, and equipped in the same manner as 
the quota of such State, unless the legislature of such State 
shall judge that such extra number cannot be safely spared out 
of the same, in which case they shall raise, officer, clothe, arm, 
and equip as many of such extra number as they judge can be 
safely spared; and the officers and men so clothed, armed, 
and equipped shall march to the place appointed, and within 
the time agreed on by the- United States in Congress assembled. 

The United States in Congress assembled shall never engage 
in a war, nor grant letters of marque and reprisal in time of 
peace, nor enter into any treaties or alliances, nor coin money, 
nor regulate the value thereof, nor ascertain the sums and ex- 
penses necessary for the defence and welfare of the United 
States, or any of them, nor emit bills, nor borrow money on 
the credit of the United States, nor appropriate money, nor 
agree upon the number of vessels of war to be built or pur- 
chased, or the number of land or sea forces to be raised, nor 
appoint a commander-in-chief of the army or navy, unless 
nine States assent to the same ; nor shall a question on any 
other point, except for adjourning from day to day, be deter- 
mined, unless by the votes of a majority of the United States 
in Congress assembled. 

The Congress of the United States shall have power to ad- 
journ to any time within the year, and to any place within the 
United States, so that no period of adjournment be for a 
longer duration than the space of six months, and shall pub- 
lish the journal of their proceedings monthly, except such 
parts thereof relating to treaties, alliances, or military oper- 
ations, as in their judgment require secrecy ; and the yeas and 
nays of the delegates of each State on any question shall be 
entered on the journal when it is desired by any delegate ; 
and the delegates of a State, or any of them, at his or their 
request, shall be furnished with a transcript of the said jour- 



Articles of Confederation, 169 

nal, except sucli parts as are above excepted, to lay before the 
legislatures of the several States. 

Article X. The committee of the States, or any nine of 
them, shall be authorized' to execute, in the recess of Con- 
gress, such of the powers of Congress as the United States in 
Congress assembled, by the consent of nine States, shall from 
time to time think expedient to vest them with : provided that 
no power be delegated to the said committee, for the exercise 
of which, by the articles of confederation, the voice of nine 
States in the Congress of the United States assembled is requi- 
site. 

Abticle XI. Canada acceding to this confederation, and 
joining in the measures of the United States, shall be admitted 
into, and entitled to all the advantages of, this union ; but no 
other colony shall be admitted into the same, unless such ad- 
mission be agreed to by nine States. 

Article XII. All bills of credit emitted, moneys borrowed, 
and debts contracted by, or under the authority of. Congress, 
before the assembling of the United States, in pursuance of 
the present confederation, shall be deemed and considered as 
a charge against the United States, for payment and satisfac- 
tron whereof the said United States and the public faith are 
hereby solemnly pledged. 

Article XIII. Every State shall abide by the determina- 
tions of the United States in Congress assembled on all 
questions which by this confederation are submitted to them. 
And the articles of this confederation shall be inviolably ob- 
served by every State, and the union shall be perpetual ; nor 
shall any alteration at any time hereafter be made in any of 
them, unless such alteration be agreed to in a Congress of the 
United States, and be afterwards confirmed by the legislatures 
of every State. 

And luhereas it hath pleased the Great Governor of the world 
to incline the hearts of the legislatures we respectively repre- 
sent in Congress to approve of, and to authorize us to ratify, 
the said articles of confederation and perpetual union, know 
ye that we, the undersigned delegates, by virtue of the power 
and authority to us given for that purpose, do by these pres- 
ents, in the name and in behalf of our respective constituents, 



170 Appendix. 

fully and entirely ratify and confirm each and every of the 
said articles of confederation and perpetual union, and all and 
singular the matters and things therein contained ; and we 
do further solemnly plight and engage the faith of our respec- 
tive constituents, that they shall abide by the determinations 
of the United States in Congress assembled on all questions 
which by the said confederation are submitted to them ; and 
that the articles thereof shall be inviolably observed by the 
States we respectively represent, and that the union shall be 
perpetual. In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands 
in Congress. Done at Philadelphia in the State of Pennsyl- 
vania the ninth day of July in the year of our Lord 1778, and 
in the third year of the Independence of America. 



Farewell Address of George Washington, 171 



III. 



FAEEWELL ADDRESS OF GEORGE WASHINGTON, 
PRESIDENT, TO THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED 
STATES, SEPT. 17, 1796. 

Fbiejstds and Fellow-citizens, — The period for a new 
election of a citizen to administer the executive government 
of the United States being not far distant, and the time actual- 
ly arrived when your thoughts must be employed in designat- 
ing the person who is to be clothed with that important trust, 
it appears to me proper, especially as it may conduce to a more 
distinct expression of the public voice, that I should now 
apprize you of the resolution I have formed to decline being 
considered among the number of those out of whom a choice 
is to be made. 

I beg you at the same time to do me the justice to be 
assured that this resolution has not been taken without a 
strict regard to all the considerations appertaining to the re- 
lation which binds a dutiful citizen to his country; and that, 
in withdrawing the tender of service, which silence, in my 
situation, might imply, I am influenced by no diminution of 
zeal for your future interest, no deficiency of grateful respect 
for your past kindness, but am supported by a full conviction 
that the step is compatible with both. 

The acceptance of, and continuance hitherto in, the office 
to which your suffrages have twice called me, have been a 
uniform sacrifice of inclination to the opinion of duty, and to 
a deference for what appeared to be your desire. I constant- 
ly hoped that it would have been much earlier in my power, 
consistently with motives which I was not at liberty to dis- 
regard, to return to that retirement from which I have been 
reluctantly drawn. The strength of my inclination to do 
this, previous to the last election, had even led to the prepara- 
tion of an address to declare it to you ; but mature reflection 



172 Appendix, 

on the then perplexed and critical posture of our affairs with 
foreign nations, and the unanimous advice of persons entitled 
to my confidence, impelled me to abandon the idea. 

I rejoice that the state of your concerns, external as well as 
internal, no longer renders the pursuit of inclination incom- 
patible with the sentiment of duty or propriety; and am 
persuaded, whatever partiality may be retained for my ser- 
vices, that, in the present circumstances of our country, you 
will not disapprove my determination to retire. 

The impressions with which I undertook the arduous trust 
were explained on the proper occasion. In the discharge of 
this trust, I will only say, that I have with good intentions 
contributed towards the organization and administration of 
the government the best exertions of which a very fallible 
judgment was capable. iN'ot unconscious in the outset of the 
inferiority of my qualifications, experience, in my own eyes, — 
perhaps still more in the eyes of others, — has strengthened the 
motives to diffidence of myself; and every day the increas- 
ing weight of years admonishes me more and more that the 
shade of retirement is as necessary to me as it will be wel- 
come. Satisfied that, if any circumstances have given peculiar 
value to my services, they were temporary, I have the conso- 
lation to believe, that, while choice and prudence invite me 
to quit the j)olitical scene, patriotism does not forbid it. 

In looking forward to the moment which is intended to 
terminate the career of my public life, my feelings do not 
permit me to suspend the deep acknowledgment of that debt 
of gratitude which I owe to my beloved country for the many 
honors it has conferred upon me ; still more for the steadfast 
confidence with which it has supported me, and for the op- 
portunities I have thence enjoyed of manifesting my inviola- 
ble attachment by services faithful and persevering, though in 
usefulness unequal to my zeal. If benefits have resulted to 
our country from these services, let it always be remembered 
to your praise, and as an instructive example in our annals, 
that, under circumstances in which the passions, agitated in 
every direction, were liable to mislead; amidst appearances 
sometimes dubious, vicissitudes of fortune often discouraging ; 
in situations in which, not unfrequently, want of success 



Farewell Address of George Washington. 173 

has countenanced the spirit of criticism, — the constancy of 
your support was the essential prop of the efforts, and a 
guaranty of the plans, by which they were effected. Pro- 
foundly penetrated with this idea, I shall carry it with me to 
my grave, as a strong incitement to unceasing vows, that 
Heaven may continue to you the choicest tokens of its benefi- 
cence; that your union and brotherly affection may be per- 
petual ; that the free Constitution, which is the work of your 
hands, may be sacredly maintained; that its administration 
in every department may be stamped with wisdom and vir- 
tue ; that, in fine, the happiness of the people of these States, 
under the auspices of liberty, may be made complete by so 
careful a preservation and so prudent a use of this blessing as 
will acquire to them the glory of recommending it to the ap- 
plause, the affection, and the adoption of every nation which 
is yet a stranger to it. 

Here, perhaps, I ought to stop; but a solicitude for your 
welfare, which cannot end but with my life, and the appre- 
hension of danger natural to that solicitude, urge me, on an 
occasion like the present, to offer to your solemn contempla- 
tion, and to recommend to your frequent review, some senti- 
ments, which are the result of much reflection, of no incon- 
siderable observation, and which appear to me all-important to 
the permanency of your felicity as a people. These will be 
afforded to you with the more freedom, as you can only see in 
them the disinterested warnings of a parting friend, who can 
possibly have no personal motive to bias his counsel ; nor can 
I forget, as an encouragement to it, your indulgent reception 
of my sentiments on a former and not dissimilar occasion. 

Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every ligament of 
your hearts, no recommendation of mine is necessary to fortify 
or confirm the attachment. 

The unity of government, which constitutes you one people, 
is also now dear to you. It is justly so ; for it is a main pillar 
in the edifice of your real independence, — the support of your 
tranquillity at home, your peace abroad, of your safety, of 
your prosperity, of that very liberty which you so highly prize. 
But as it is easy to foresee that, from different causes and from 
different quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices 



174 Appendix. 

employed, to weaken in your minds the conviction of this 
truth; as this is the point in your poHtical fortress against 
which the batteries of internal and external enemies will be 
most constantly and actively (though often covertly and insidi- 
ously) directed, — it is of infinite moment that you should 
properly estimate the immense value of your national union 
to your collective and individual happiness; that you should 
cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to it; 
accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as of the pal- 
ladium of your political safety and prosperity; watching for 
its preservation with jealous anxiety; discountenancing what- 
ever may suggest even a suspicion that it can, in any event, be 
abandoned ; and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning 
of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from 
the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together 
the various parts. 

For this you have every inducement of sympathy and inter- 
est. Citizens, by birth or choice, of a common country, that 
country has a right to concentrate your affections. The name 
of American, which belongs to you in your national capacity, 
must always exalt the just pride of patriotism more than any 
appellation derived from local discriminations. With slight 
shades of difference, you have the same religion, manners, 
habits, and political principles. You have, in a common 
cause, fought and triumphed together. The independence 
and liberty you possess are the work of joint counsels and 
joint efforts, of common dangers, sufferings, and successes. 

But these considerations, however powerfully they address 
themselves to your sensibility, are greatly outweighed by those 
which apply more immediately to your interest. Here every 
portion of our country finds the most commanding motives 
for carefully guarding and preserving the union of the whole. 

The North, in an unrestrained intercourse with the South, 
protected by the equal laws of a common government, finds, 
in the productions of the latter, great additional resources of 
maritime and commercial enterprise, and precious materials of 
manufacturing industry. The South, in the same intercourse, 
benefiting by the agency of the North, sees its agriculture 
grow, and its commerce expand. Turning partly into its own 



Ftrewell Address of G-eorge Washington. 175 

channels the seamen of the North, it finds its particular navi- 
gation invigorated ; and, while it contributes in different ways 
to nourish and increase the general mass of the national navi- 
gation, it looks forward to the protection of a maritime 
strength to which itself is unequally adapted. The East, in 
like intercourse with the West, already finds, and, in the pro- 
gressive improvement of interior communication by land and 
water, will more and more find, a valuable vent for the cora- 
modities which it brings from abroad, or manufactures at 
home. The West derives from the East supplies requisite to 
its growth and comfort; and, what is perhaps of still greater 
consequence, it must, of necessity, owe the secure enjoyment 
of indispensable outlets for its own productions to the weight, 
influence, and the future maritime strength of the Atlantic 
side of the Union, directed by an indissoluble community of 
interest as one nation. Any other tenure by which the West 
can hold this essential advantage, whether derived from its 
own separate strength or from an apostate and unnatural con- 
nection with any foreign power, must be intrinsically preca- 
rious. 

While, then, every part of our country thus feels an imme- 
diate and particular interest in union, all the parts combined 
cannot fail to find, in the united mass of means and efforts, 
greater strength, greater resource, proportionably greater secu- 
rity from external danger, a less frequent interruption of their 
peace by foreign nations; and, what is of inestimable value, 
they must derive from union an exemption from those broils 
and wars between themselves which so frequently afflict 
neighboring countries not tied together by the same govern- 
ment, which their own rivalships alone would be sufficient to 
produce, but which opposite foreign alliances, attachments, 
and intrigues would stimulate and embitter. Hence, likewise, 
they will avoid the necessity of those overgrown military 
establishments, which, under any form of government, are 
inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as partic- 
ularly hostile to republican liberty; in this sense it is that 
your union ought to be considered as a main prop of your lib- 
erty, and that the love of the one ought to endear to you the 
preservation of the other. 



176 Appendix. 

These considerations speak a persuasive language to every 
reflecting and virtuous mind, and exhibit the continuance of 
the Union as a primary object of patriotic desire. Is there a 
doubt whether a common government can embrace so large a 
sphere ? Let experience solve it. To listen to mere specula- 
tion in such a case were criminal. We are authorized to 
hope that a proper organization of the whole, with the auxil- 
iary agency of governments for the respective subdivisions, 
will afford a happy issue to the experiment. It is well worth 
a fair and full experiment. With such powerful and obvious 
motives to union affecting all parts of our country, while 
experience shall not have demonstrated its impracticability, 
there will always be reason to distrust the patriotism of 
those who, in any quarter, may endeavor to weaken its 
bands. 

In contemplating the causes which may disturb our Union, 
it occurs, as a matter of serious concern, that any ground 
should have been furnished for characterizing parties by geo- 
graphical discriminations, — Northern and Southern, Atlantic 
and Western ; whence designing men may endeavor to excite 
a belief that there is a real difference of local interests and 
views. One of the expedients of party to acquire influence 
within particular districts is to misrepresent the opinions and 
aims of other districts. You cannot shield yourselves too 
much against the jealousies and heartburnings which spring 
from these misrepresentations: they tend to render alien to 
each other those who ought to be bound together by fraternal 
affection. The inhabitants of our western country have lately 
had a useful lesson on this head : they have seen in the nego- 
tiation by the Executive, and in the unanimous ratification by 
the Senate of the treaty with Spain, and in the universal sat- 
isfaction at that event throughout the United States, a deci- 
sive proof how unfounded were the suspicions propagated 
among them of a policy in the general government and in 
the Atlantic States unfriendly to their interests in regard to 
the Mississippi ; they have been witnesses to the formation of 
two treaties, — that with Great Britain and that with Spain, 
which secure to them every thing they could desire in respect 
to our foreign relations towards confirming their prosperity. 



Far I. well Address of George Washington. 177 

Will it not be tlieir wisdom to rely for the preservation of 
these advantages on the Union by which they were pro- 
cured ? Will they not henceforth be deaf to those advisers, 
if such there are, who would sever them from their brethren, 
and connect them with aliens ? 

To the efficacy and permanency of your Union, a govern- 
ernment for the whole is indispensable. No alliance, however 
strict between the parts, can be an adequate substitute : they 
must inevitably experience the infractions and interruptions 
which all alliances in all time have experienced. Sensible of 
this momentous truth, you have improved upon your first 
essay by the adoption of a Constitution of government better 
calculated than your former for an intimate union, and for the 
efficacious management of your common concerns. This gov- 
ernment, the offspring of our own choice, uninfluenced and un- 
awed, adopted upon full investigation and mature deliberation, 
completely free in its principles, in the distribution of its powers, 
uniting security with energy, and containing within itself a pro- 
vision for its own amendment, has a just claim to your confi- 
dence and your support. Eespect for its authority, compliance 
with its laws, acquiescence in its measures, are duties enjoined 
by the fundamental maxims of true liberty. The basis of our 
political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter 
their constitutions of government; but the Constitution which 
at any time exists, till changed by an explicit and authentic act 
of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all. The very 
idea of the power and the right of the people to establish 
government presupposes the duty of every individual to obey 
the established government. 

All obstinctions to the execution of the laws, all combina- 
tions and associations, under whatever plausible character, 
with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the 
regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, 
are destructive to this fundamental principle, and of fatal tend- 
ency. They serve to organize faction; to give it an artificial 
and extraordinaiy force ; to put in the place of the delegated 
will of the nation the will of a party, often a small but artful 
and enterprising minority of the community ; and, according 
to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the pub- 



178 Appendix, 

lie administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incon- 
gruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent 
and wholesome plans, digested by common counsels, and modi- 
fied by mutual interests. 

However combinations or associations of the above descrip- 
tion may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely, 
in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by 
which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be 
enabled to subvert the power of the people, and to usurp for 
themselves the reins of government; destroying afterwards 
the very engines which had lifted them to unjust dominion. 

Towards the preservation of your government, and the per- 
manency of your present happy state, it is requisite, not only 
that you steadily discountenance irregular oppositions to its 
acknowledged authority, but also that you resist with care the 
spirit of innovation upon its principles, however specious the 
pretexts. One method of assault may be to effect in the fonns 
of the Constitution alterations which will impair the energy of 
the system, and thus to undermine what cannot be directly 
overthrown. In all the changes to which you may be invited, 
remember that time and habit are at least as necessary to fix 
the true character of governments as of other human institu- 
tions ; that experience is the surest standard by which to test 
the real tendency of the existing constitution of a country ; 
that facility in changes, upon the credit of mere hypothesis 
and opinion, exposes to perpetual change, from the endless 
variety of hypothesis and opinion; and remember especially, 
that for the efficient management of your common interests, 
in a country so extensive as ours, a government of as much 
vigor as is consistent with the perfect security of liberty is 
indispensable. Liberty itself will find in such a government, 
with powers properly distributed and adjusted, its surest guar- 
dian. It is, indeed, little else than a name where the govern- 
ment is too feeble to withstand the enterprises of faction, to 
confine each member of the society within the limits prescribed 
by the laws, and to maintain all in the secure and tranquil 
enjoyment of the rights of person and property. 

I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the 
State, with particular reference to the founding of them on 



Farewell Address of George Washington. 179 

geogi'apliical discriminations. Let me now take a more com- 
prehensive view, and warn you, in tlie most solemn manner, 
against the baneful effects of the spirit of party generally. 

This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, 
having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. 
It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or 
less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but in those of the popu- 
lar form it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their 
worst enemy. 

The alternate domination of one faction over another, 
sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissen- 
sion, which, in different ages and countries, has perpetrated 
the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. 
But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent 
despotism. The disorders and miseries which result grad- 
ually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in 
the absolute power of an individual ; and, sooner or later, the 
chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate 
than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of 
his own elevation on the ruins of public liberty. 

Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind 
(which, nevertheless, ought not to be entirely out of sight), 
the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are 
suflBcient to make it the interest and daty of a wise people to 
discourage and restrain it. 

It serves always to distract the public councils, and enfeeble 
the public administration. It agitates the community with ill- 
founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles the animosity 
of one part against another; foments, occasionally, riot and 
insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and cor- 
ruption, which find a facilitated access to the government it- 
self through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy 
and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and 
will of another. 

There is an opinion that parties in free countries are use- 
ful checks upon the administration of the government, and 
serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. This, within certain 
limits, is probably true ; and, in governments of a monarchical 
cast, patriotism may look with indulgence, if not with favor, 



180 Appendix, 

upon the spirit of party. But in those of the popular charac- 
ter, in governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be 
encouraged. From their natural tendency, it is certain there 
will always be enough of that spirit for every salutary pur- 
pose. And, there being constant danger of excess, the effort 
ought to be, by force of public opinion, to mitigate and as- 
suage it. A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform 
vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead ot 
warming, it should consume. 

It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking, in a 
free country, should inspire caution in those intrusted with its 
administration, to confine themselves within their respective 
constitutional spheres, avoiding, in the exercise of the powers 
of one department, to encroach upon another. The spirit of 
encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the de- 
partments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of 
government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of 
power, and proneness to abuse it which predominates in the 
human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this po- 
sition. The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of 
political power, by dividing and distributing it into different 
depositories, and constituting each the guardian of the public 
weal, against invasions by the others, has been evinced by ex- 
periments, ancient and modern, — some of them in our own 
country, and under our own eyes. To preserve them must be 
as necessary as to institute them. If, in the opinion of the 
people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional 
powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an 
amendment in the way which the Constitution designates. 
But let there be no change by usurpation ; for, though this in 
one instance may be the instrument of good, it is the custom- 
ary weapon by which free governments are destroyed. The 
precedent must always greatly overbalance, in permanent evil, 
any partial or transient benefit which the use can at any time 
yield. 

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political 
prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. 
In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who 
should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, 



Farewell Address of George Washington. 181 

these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. Tlie 
mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect 
and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their con- 
nections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be 
asked, where is the security for property, for reputation, for 
life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which 
are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice ? 
And let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality 
can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be con- 
ceded to the influence of refined education on minds of pecu- 
liar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect 
that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious 
principles. 

It is substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary 
spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends 
with more or less force to every species of free government. 
Who that is a sincere friend to it can look with indifference 
upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric ? 

Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institu- 
tions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as 
the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it 
is essential that public opinion should be enlightened. 

As a very important source of strength and security, cherish 
public credit. One method of preserving it is to use it as spar- 
ingly as possible ; avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating 
peace, but remembering also that timely disbursements to pre- 
pare for danger frequently prevent much greater disburse- 
ments to repel it ; avoiding, likewise, the accumulation of 
debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigor- 
ous exertions in time of peace to discharge the debts which 
unavoidable wars may have occasioned ; not ungenerously 
throwing upon posterity the burden which we ourselves ought 
to bear. The execution of these maxims belongs to your rep- 
resentatives ; but it is necessary that public opinion should 
co-operate. To facilitate to them the performance of their 
duty, it is essential that you should practically bear in mind, 
tliat towards the payment of debts there must be revenue ; that 
to have revenue there must be taxes ; that no taxes can be de- 
vised which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleas- 



182 Appendix, 

anl ; that the intrinsic embarrassment inseparable from the 
selection of the proper objects (which is always a choice of 
difnculties) ought to be a decisive motive for a candid con- 
struction of the conduct of the government in making it, and 
for a spirit of acquiescence in the measures for obtaining rev- 
enue, which the public exigencies may at any time dictate. 

Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate 
peace and harmony with all. Eeligion and morality enjoin this 
conduct ; and can it be that good policy does not equally en- 
join it ? It will be worthy of a free, enlightened, and, at no 
distant period, a great nation, to give to mankind the magnan- 
imous and too novel example of a people always guided by an 
exalted justice and benevolence. Who can doubt that, in the 
course of time and things, the fruits of such a plan would 
richly repay any temporary advantages whicli might be lost 
by a steady adherence to it ? Can it be that Providence has 
not connected the permanent felicity of a nation with its vir- 
tue ? The experiment, at least, is recommended by every sen- 
timent which ennobles human nature. Alas ! is it rendered 
impossible by its vices ? 

In the execution of such a plan, nothing is more essential 
than that permanent inveterate antipathies against particular 
nations, and passionate attachments for others, should be ex- 
cluded ; and that, in place of them, just and amicable feelings 
towards all should be cultivated. The nation which indulges 
towards another an habitual hatred, or an habitual fondness, is, 
in some degree, a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its 
affection, either of whicli is sufficient to lead it astray from 
its duty and its interest. Antipathy in one nation against 
another disposes each more readily to offer insult and injury, 
to lay hold of slight causes of umbrage, and to be haughty and 
intractable when accidental or trifling occasions of dispute oc- 
cur. Hence frequent collisions, obstinate, envenomed, and 
bloody contests. The nation, prompted by ill will and resent- 
ment, sometimes impels to war the government, contrary to 
the best calculations of policy. The government sometimes 
participates in the national propensity, and adopts, through 
passion, what reason would reject ; at other times it makes 
the animosity of the nation subservient to projects of hostility, 



Farewell Address of George Washington. 183 

instigated by pride, ambition, and other sinister and pernicious 
motives. The peace often, sometimes perhaps the liberty, of 
nations has been the victim. 

So, likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation to another 
produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, 
facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest, in 
cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into 
one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a partici- 
pation in the quarrels and wars of the latter, without ade- 
quate inducement or justification. It leads also to concessions 
to the favorite nation of privileges denied to others, which is 
apt doubly to injure the nation making the concessions, by 
unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been retained, 
and by exciting jealousy, ill will, and a disposition to retaliate, 
in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld ; and 
it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens (who de- 
vote themselves to the favorite nation) facility to betray, or 
sacrifice the interest of, their own country, without odium, 
sometimes even with popularity ; gilding with the appearance 
of a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference 
for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base 
or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation. 

As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, such 
attachments are particularly alarming to the truly enlightened 
and independent patriot. How many opportunities do they 
afford to tamper with domestic factions, to practise the art of 
seduction, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the 
public councils! Such an attachment of a small or weak 
towards a great and powerful nation dooms the former to be 
the satellite of the latter. 

Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I conjure 
you to believe me, fellow-citizens) the jealousy of a free people 
ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience 
prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of 
republican government. But that jealousy, to be useful, must 
be impartial, else it becomes the instrument of the very in- 
fluence to be avoided, instead of a defence against it. Exces- 
sive partiality for one foreign nation, and excessive dislike for 
another, cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on 



184 Appendix. 

one side, and serve to veil, and even second, tlie arts of influ- 
ence on the otlier. Eeal patriots, wlio may resist the intrigues 
of the favorite, are liable to become suspected and odious ; 
while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of 
the people, to surrender their interests. 

The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign na- 
tions, is, in extending our commercial relations, to have vi ith 
them as little political connection as possible. So far as we 
have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with 
perfect good faith. Here let us stop. 

Europe has a set of primary interests, which to us have 
none or a very remote relation. Hence she must be engaged in 
frequent controversies, the causes of which are essentially for- 
eign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in 
us to implicate ourselves by artificial Lies in the ordinary 
vicissitudes of her politics, or the ordinary combinations and 
collisions of her friendships or enmities. 

Our detached and distant situation invites and enables us to 
pursue a di:fferent course. If we remain one people under an 
efficient government, the period is not far off when we may 
defy material injury from external annoyance ; when we may 
take such an attitude as will cause the neutrality we may at 
any time resolve upon to be scrupulously respected ; when 
belligerent nations, under the impossibility of making acquisi- 
tions upon us, will not lightly hazard the giving us provoca- 
tion ; when we may choose peace or war as our interest, 
guided by justice, shall counsel. 

Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation? Why 
quit our own to stand upon foreign ground ? Why, by inter- 
weaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle 
our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, 
rivalship, interest, humor, or caprice ? 

It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances 
with any portion of the foreign world, — so far, I mean, as we 
are now at liberty to do it ; for let me not be misunderstood as 
capable of patronizing infidelity to existing engagements. I 
hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private 
affairs, that honesty is always the best policy. I repeat it, 
therefore, let those engagements be observed in their genuine 



Farewell Address of George Washington, 185 

sense. But, in my opinion, it is unnecessary, and would be 
unwise, to extend tliem. 

Taking care always to keep ourselves, by suitable establish- 
ments, on a respectable defensive posture, we may safely trust 
to temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies. 

Harmony and a liberal intercourse with all nations are 
recommended by policy, humanity, and interest. But even 
our commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial 
hand, neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors or prefer- 
ences ; consulting the natural course of things ; diffusing and 
diversifying, by gentle means, the streams of commerce, but 
forcing nothing; establishing — with powers so disposed, in 
order to give trade a stable course j to define the rights of our 
merchants, and to enable the government to support them — 
conventional rules of intercourse, the best that present cir- 
cumstances and mutual opinions will permit, but temporary, 
and liable to be from time to time abandoned or varied as 
experience and circumstances shall dictate; constantly keeping 
in view that it is folly in one nation to look for disinterested 
favors from another; that it must pay with a portion of its 
independence for whatever it may accept under that char- 
acter ; that by such acceptance it may place itself in the con- 
dition of having given equivalents for nominal favors, and yet 
of being reproached with ingratitude for not giving more. 
There can be no greater error than to expect or calculate 
upon real favors from nation to nation. It is an illusion 
w^hich experience must cure, which a just pride ought to 
discard. 

In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an old 
and affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will make the 
strong and lasting impression I could wish; that they will 
control the usual current of the passions, or prevent our nation 
from running the course which has hitherto marked the destiny 
of nations: but, if I may even flatter myself that they may be 
productive of some partial benefit, some occasional good; that 
they may now and then recur to moderate the fury of party 
spirit, to warn against the mischiefs of foreign intrigues, to 
guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism, — -this 
hope will be a full recompense for the solicitude for your wel- 
fare by which they have been dictated. 



186 Appendix. 

How far, in the discharge of my oflScial duties, I have been 
guided by the principles which have been delineated, the 
public records, and other evidences of my conduct, must wit- 
ness to you and the world. To myself the assurance of my 
own conscience is, that I have at least believed myself to be 
guided by them. 

In relation to the still subsisting Avar in Europe, my procla- 
mation of the 22d of April, 1V93, is the index to my plan. 
Sanctioned by your approving voice, and by that of your 
representatives in both houses of Congress, the spirit of that 
measure has continually governed me, uninfluenced by any 
attempts to deter or divert me from it. 

After deliberate examination, with the aid of the best lights 
I could obtain, I was well satisfied that our country, under all 
the circumstances of the case, had a right to take, and was 
bound in duty and interest to take, a neutral position. Having 
taken it, I determined, as far as should depend upon me, to 
maintain it with moderation, perseverance, and firmness. 

The considerations which respect the right to hold this con- 
duct, it is not necessary on this occasion to detail. I will only 
observe, that, according to my understanding of the matter, 
that right, so far from being denied by any of the belligerent 
powers, has been virtually admitted by all. 

The duty of holding a neutral conduct may be inferred, 
without any thing more, from the obligation which justice 
and humanity impose on every nation, in cases in which it 
is free to act, to maintain inviolate the relations of peace and 
amity towards other nations. 

The inducements of interest for observing that conduct 
will best be referred to your own reflections and experience. 
With me a predominant motive has been to endeavor to gain 
time to our country to settle, and mature its yet recent institu- 
tions, and to progress, without interruption, to that degree 
of strength and consistency which is necessary to give it, 
humanly speaking, the command of its own fortunes. 

Though, in reviewing the incidents of my administration, I 
am unconscious of intentional error, I am, nevertheless, too 
sensible of my defects not to think it probable that I may have 
committed many errors. Whatever they may be, I fervently 



Farewell Address of George Washington, 187 

beseech the Almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which 
they may tend. I shall also carry with me the hope that my 
country will never cease to view them with indulgence ; and 
that, after forty-five years of my life dedicated to its service 
with an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will he 
consigned to oblivion, as myself must soon be to the mansions 
of rest. 

Kelying on its kindness in this as in other things, and actu- 
ated by that fervent love towards it which is so natural to a 
man who views in it the native soil of himself and his pro- 
genitors for several generations, I anticipate, with pleasing 
expectation, that retreat in which I promise myself to realize, 
without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of partaking, in the midst 
of my fellow-citizens, the benign influence of good laws under 
a free government, — the ever-favorite object of my heart, — 
and the happy reward, as I trust, of our mutual cares, labors, 
and dangers. 

GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

United States, 17th September, 1796. 



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12 



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14 



DE TOCQUEVILLE'S 

DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 

TRANSLATED BY REEVE, 

Revised and Edited, with Notes, by Francis Bowen, Pro- 
fessor of Moral Philosophy in Harvard University. Sixth 
Edition. 2 vols. 8vo. Cloth. ^5.00. 

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Front the Washington Globe. 

By the common consent of all critics, this is the best work on Democracy in ancient 
or modern literature. It has had the universal good fortune to please men of all 
shades of political opinion, for the simple reason that, being the work of a man who 
strove to attain the just medium in all his opinions, who was a sincere seeker after 
truth, and whose chief aim in life was the good of mankind, it bears throughout 
strong marks of impartiality, sincerity, and honesty. 

From the K. Y. Tribune, 

The more it is studied, the more reason one will find to admire the philosophical 
spirit which pervades every part, without being anywhere offensively obtruded ; its 
luminous method ; the accurate knowledge of our institutions which it reveals alike 
n their spirit and in their details; and the accuracy, clearness, and grace of the 
style. . . . Professor Bowen has subjected Reeve's version to a careful supervision, 
and has almost rewritten it. He has made it more correct and more compact by lop- 
ping off its redundancy and tightening its structure, so that it not only better repre- 
sents De Tocqueville, but it is better English. 

From the National Quarterly Review. 

De Tocqueville has become a classic in every literature in Christendom. His 
" Democracy in Am'erica" is ever3rwhere recognized as a standard authority. True, 
he wrote this work thirty years ago : at least a score have been written on the same 
subject since ; but his is worth five score. Yet it is a remarkable fact that the one 
now before us is the only edition in English of " Democracy in America " which is at 
all worthy of the author, or of the subject which he handles with such masterly skill. 



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